Divided and Desperate
by Hooked-on-Books
Summary: Elina found her father dead on her living room floor a week ago. She hasn't told anyone, but can she keep the truth hidden from someone who pours his heart out to her and makes her feel more alive than she's felt in years?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Tapping my fingers nervously, I wait to hear the sound of the school bus drive past before walking out onto my driveway and getting into the only car available. Realizing I hadn't locked the front door behind me, I sigh and get back out of the car into the cold air to go do so. "I have a new appreciation for adults." I mutter as I kick through the snow back to the door to lock it. _Clarissa is going to wonder why I'm not on the bus again today, _I realize. _Crap. _

Clarissa is my best friend, but we have been growing apart over the last year. She finally convinced the football team's quarterback to go out with her, and ever since she's been so busy with him she's forgotten about me. As a result of this, I have yet to explain to her that my father is dead.

_It's not your fault he died. You're seventeen, almost old enough to be legal living alone anyway. The Social Services don't need to know. Besides, now you have his car to drive, and you're still making money working with Clarissa's parents. There's no need to be worried._

But even as I think this I know I am wrong. The neighbors have already become suspicious, as my dad's car leaves two hours later than usual and arrives two hours earlier back at the house. Clarissa is trustworthy, but if I don't tell her myself, she might tell her parents her suspicions before I can explain to her what really happened. And if the school tries to contact my dad, they'll know as well.

_Did he really leave no will? _I ask to myself. I've already searched the house for any clues as to why I found him dead in the middle of our living room a week ago. There was no plausible explanation, besides possibly suicide. _But wouldn't he have left a note, or will, or something for me if that was the case? _ The lack of information he left might lead me to believe that it was hardly suicide. Recently, he'd been extremely secretive and was staying out at nights much later than normal. _Could he have provoked someone to the point where they thought killing him was the best option? _ He had been bleeding severely from a large hole in his chest. What really bothers me though, was the fact that the color had not even been drained from his face when I found him. Whatever had happened, I had only been minutes short of being involved.

The weirdest part was that there had been a very similar occurrence ten years ago when my mother had died. I had come home from school to find her dead in the living room, just like my father, but instead she was bleeding from her neck where something had cut her deeply enough to kill her. And when my father came home from work, he looked frightened to see her, but not necessarily sad at all.

I shake my head of these thoughts as I pull into the school's parking lot, parking in the back so no one can see that I actually drove myself to school. Walking around to the side of the school, I join a large group of bus riders as they make their way into the school.

Clarissa and Grant, her boyfriend, are sitting on one of the benches in the hallway, talking, and Clarissa is completely oblivious as I walk by. _Thank God. _I sigh in relief, glad to get out of answering a million questions before the first bell rings. I wander the hallways alone until it's time to go to first period.

Walking into my Calculus class, I notice immediately that there is a new student, and that he's sitting in my seat. _That's odd. We never get new students in Calculus, more often than not we're losing students. _The boy turns around when he feels my gaze on him, and smiles grimly at me. I shudder inwardly. _But you know, he is kind of cute. Kind of? Oh, who am I kidding, he's really cute. _I finally compose myself enough to walk over to him, and stand awkwardly beside him.

I clear my throat, "Umm… this is actually my seat." I tell him shyly, twirling a piece of my thick golden hair around my finger as I talk.

"Is it? I apologize then for taking it." He replies, but makes no move to find a different seat.

"Elina, you can find a different seat. We would like to make our new students as comfortable as possible while learning. In fact, why don't you sit right there next to him and explain to him what we're learning and tell him a little about the school?" The teacher, Mrs. Bergstrom tells me from behind her desk in the front of the room.

"Yes, Mrs. Bergstrom." Groaning inwardly, I walk around the row of desks and settle into the one right next to the new student. After getting out my supplies, I turn my attention back to him.

"I'm Elina." I say, noticing that he doesn't have a backpack anywhere near his desk. "Where's all of your stuff?" I ask.

"I don't have anything. Do you think I could borrow a pencil and some paper for the day? I find it hard to believe that if we're forced to come fuel our education, we must provide our own supplies." I narrow my eyes at him for a second, but quickly turn to dig some paper out of my backpack, and hand him a pencil as well. "_Aciu_." He adds.

"What?" I say, thinking I've heard him wrong, but he doesn't seem phased by this.

"_Aciu_. It means thank you in Lithuanian." The bell rings overhead, signaling for us to be quiet. The announcements play on the television, but I am in a daze and do not pay attention to any of it. I can feel the new student's eyes watching me the whole time, but I don't turn to look at him. I don't want him to get the wrong idea.

When the announcements finish, Mrs. Bergstrom calls the new student to the front to introduce himself to the class. He lightly touches my fingers that are resting on the desk as he walks past me, causing me to shiver and pull my hands back.

"My name is Cyprianus Jayden Amadeus Tryforce. I travel a lot, and recently returned from living in Lithuania for three months." He says, watching me still. I shift uncomfortably in my chair. He notices and grins at me.

"Why did you move from Lithuania to Floodwood, Minnesota?" Mrs. Bergstrom asks him, and he grimaces at the question and creates a quick answer in his head. I watch the lie flow from his lips.

"My grandfather lived in Lithuania, but he died a few weeks ago so I decided to move back to America. My mother was born in Floodwood, so I chose to come here." I feel myself getting drawn into his smile and the rest of the room disappears from around me, and all I see is him.

"Do you live by yourself?" I ask from the back of the room, immediately covering my mouth and lowering my head, hoping that no one heard me. Of course, every head in the room turns to look at me, and I can feel my cheeks turning bright red.

"Elina? You know better than that. In my class, we raise our hands when we would like to ask questions." Mrs. Bergstrom frowns at me before turning her attention back to the new student. "Cyprianus Jayden Amadeus? That's an unusually long and uncommon name; is there a nickname you go by?"

"You can call me Jayden." Although I'm looking at the desk, I can feel his gaze on me as he talks.

"Well, thank you Jayden. I look forward to learning more about you while you're in my class. I don't know if Elina told you or not, but right now we are working on functions. You can take a textbook from the shelf in the back to keep at home to do homework for the rest of the year." I looked up in time to see Jayden give Mrs. Bergstrom a large smile and then make his way to the back, past my desk to grab a textbook and then sitting down next to me. "Open your books to page 425 and get started on tonight's homework. Jayden, if you need any help, Elina should be able to help you, but if not, feel free to come to my desk."

I opened the book and wasn't surprised with what the problems looked like, we'd been working on similar ones all week; it would be easy enough for me. I am pretty good at math, actually. It's my favorite subject, which is why, as a senior in high school, I'm taking Calculus. I was on the third problem when Jayden cleared his throat beside me. I bit back a scowl and turned to help him.

"What do you need help with?" I ask, with the friendliest tone I could create. He looks surprised at my rude remark, and then gives me another smile.

"Oh—I don't need any help. Calculus is like second nature to me. I was just going to suggest that you use symbols instead of writing out the functions. Like this," He held his paper out to show me what symbols he meant, and I noticed that he was already on the thirteenth problem. I glared at him and turned back to my desk.

"I prefer to do it my way; it helps me understand what I'm doing. And since it doesn't seem like you need any help, I'd like it if you left me alone so I could finish my own work." I got fifteen more problems done before he cleared his throat again.

"What do you want?" I asked louder than I should've, and received a glare from Mrs. Bergstrom. I winced and whispered, "Sorry, can I help you?"

"Once again, I don't need any help. Since I've finished the homework, I was looking at my schedule, and was wondering if you could walk me to my next class. I'm not sure I know my way around these halls yet."

I couldn't help but drop my charade after hearing that. "You've finished the homework?" I said, a hint of awe in my voice. "All forty-seven problems?" He nodded, smirking.

"You haven't?" He teased, glancing at my paper and raising his eyebrows when he saw I was on nineteen. I took a deep breath, restraining from punching him in the middle of the classroom, and calmed my nerves.

"No, I haven't. I take my time while I'm doing my homework, to ensure I'm doing everything right. We still have forty minutes of class left, I think I'll have plenty of time to finish. Now what is your next class?" I replied, proud of how calm my voice sounded.

He responded immediately, without hesitation. "AP Chemistry with Mr. Troop." I tried to hide my surprise at hearing this, as AP Chemistry was my next class as well.

"Turn left and then take the first right. Follow the hall past the cafeteria and then take the first left, and his room is the third room on the right." I answered as automatically as I could, going back to the math problems when I finished.

"Thanks," he muttered, realizing I didn't want to talk.

I spent the rest of the period doing my homework in silence, and I was on the last problem when the bell rang. I felt Jayden's eyes on me as I hurried out of the room, and I was stopped by Clarissa as soon as I stepped into the hallway.

"Hey! Where were you this morning? Is the bus too good for you now? How have you been getting to school?" She threw the questions at me, but her gaze followed Jayden when he stepped out of the room and brushed me as he walked the way I'd directed him. "Who was that? I've never seen him before." She asked excitedly.

"No one. " I muttered. "Just some new kid who's really good at math." I answered, grabbing her arm and pulling her down the hallway so we wouldn't be late to class.

"Well, whoever he was, he was totally staring at you as he walked past!" She squealed, and I rolled my eyes at her. Clarissa was used to having guys stare at her; she was a very curvy, tall girl who had vibrant, wavy red hair. Overall, she was gorgeous, and I was just normal. With long, thick, but straight blonde hair, and a normal height of 5'4, I was far from gorgeous. But I wasn't hideous.

"No he wasn't. He's a jerk anyway." _A cute jerk._ I reminded myself. He had medium length dark hair, and bright blue eyes. He was tall, and he had a very muscular build. I shook his image out of my head and turned the opposite direction as Clarissa and went the rest of the way to Chemistry by myself.

I'd forgotten that Jayden was in this class as well until I walked in the door and saw the look on his face when he saw me. I took a deep breath to hide my disappointment, and made my way to my seat, right next to where he had decided to sit.

He nodded at me and said quietly, "Elina."

"Jayden."

"Care to explain why you didn't mention this being your second period as well?" He smiled mockingly.

"You didn't ask."I retorted.

"I did ask to walk with you, and I figured you only gave me directions because your class was in a different direction. Now, I realize the truth." He sounded hurt, but his smile looked far from it.

"The truth? _You _want the truth?" I turned to meet his stare for the first time, and held it with passion. "Why did you move from Lithuania to Minnesota? You had no grandfather there, your mother wasn't born here. Why were you in Lithuania to begin with?"

He hesitated and closed his eyes for a few seconds before answering, "Family business."

"By yourself?" I caught his gaze when his eyes opened again.

"I wasn't alone, until my father died. I had to move here to continue his work." I looked down then, silently apologizing for asking, but he just clenched his fists tighter.

"Why didn't you tell Mrs. Bergstrom the truth?" I whispered quietly, while Mr. Troop began addressing the class. We were sitting in the back, though, so he hadn't noticed we were talking yet.

"None of the adults can know that I live by myself, even though I am eighteen. My records state that I'm still in my parent's custody. And I would be, if they were still alive." He pressed his lips together and unclenched his hands. "But they aren't." He added to himself.

"I'm sorry. I know how you feel." His eyes looked up at me, questioningly. "My parents are both dead, too." The smile that was constantly shown on his face through his eyes lost its tenacity, and his gaze went silent. I froze when I realized what I'd just admitted to him. _You've just made him the only person in the world who knows that your father is dead, and you don't even know him! _And the opposing side in my mind saying, _He doesn't know you live alone. He doesn't even know your last name, he poses no threat to us. Just don't take it any farther than this._

We watched each other for a few more seconds before Mr. Troop cleared his throat from the front of the room. "Ms. Mackenzie? Is there something you and our new Mr. Tryforce would like to share?" I turned to face him and shook my head, blushing.

"No, Mr. Troop." I answered barely loud enough for even Jayden to hear.

"Louder, Ms. Mckenzie. The world will never know how you feel if you do not confess you feelings with confidence. Speak as if talking to the sky." He told me, as he often had before. "Perhaps Mr. Tryforce will have a better answer for us." He slowly shifted his eyes from me to Jayden, and raised his brows.

"There is nothing to share, Mr. Troop, except your wonderful teaching. I have learned more from your class so far than I'd learned all year at my previous school." He replied calmly, and I hid my laugh by covering my mouth with my hand. Mr. Troop seemed pleased with this answer and let us off the hook, returning to the class.

When I was positive it was safe to talk again, I whispered, "Kiss ass," in Jayden's direction without actually looking at him.

He waited a few seconds before replying with, "I _saved_ your ass," and a few moments later, "Be grateful." I laughed again quietly, my hand still covering my mouth in an attempt to keep quiet.

We decided to actually pay attention for the remainder of the period, and when the bell rang, I hurried to leave the classroom before having to speak with Jayden again. He caught up to me and tapped my shoulder after I had only taken three steps out the classroom door.

"Hey, wait. You can't get rid of me that fast." He tried to turn my shoulder around, but I remained facing away from him, my feet planted firmly on the ground. Instead of walking around me, he leaned down close to my ear, and I could feel his breath on my neck. "I need directions to my next class." He whispered so only I could hear.

I stepped away from him and turned to face him, noticing too late how much taller he is than I am. While I am only 5'4, Jayden was easily a few inches over six feet. Probably about a foot taller than me, actually. Earlier, he'd always been sitting, or slouching. While standing erect, I had to lean my head back almost completely just to see his face. Narrowing my eyes, I crossed my arms over my chest and began to talk.

"Get a map of the school. Or ask a teacher. I'm _not _going to be your official tour guide of Floodwood High. Find your own way around. Challenges are good for your mind." Turning, I stalked towards my next class as fast as my feet would take me without running.

After the bell rang, I was extremely relieved to see that he wasn't also in my third period, and took the next three classes to relax my thoughts and compose my mind. Clarissa met me in the hall after fifth period, and together we walked to the cafeteria for lunch.

Normally, we sat with her boyfriend, Grant, and a few of his friends, which all happened to be jocks, but today they'd had an extra practice for an upcoming game, so it was just the two of us. _Tell her. She'll find out eventually. If she knows, she can help you keep it a secret. _There was another side of the argument in the mind, though. No one _can find out. Clarissa may be your best friend, but she's been known to gossip. It isn't worth the risk. The Social Securities will take you away if anyone finds out your living by yourself. _Then I remembered what I'd said earlier, in chemistry. _My parents are both dead, too._

_ I told Jayden? Jayden, who's mocked and tormented me to the point of exhaustion in just a few hours? Oh my god! How could I be so careless, and let that slip? And of all people? If he finds out anymore about my situation, he'll for sure tell the Social's on me! _

My thoughts were interrupted by Clarissa hitting my arm, hard. I glanced over at her and followed her gaze up to where someone was standing. Jayden was holding a tray piled high with food and leaning, one arm on the table, the other holding his meal, and smiling mysteriously. "Is this seat taken?" He asked mischievously. I took a deep breath and shook my head.

"No, it isn't." Clarissa answered beside me. I turned and sent her a look that said, _Shut up, I already told you what I thought of him, _but she ignored it. "So, what's your name?" She asked innocently, leaning her head on her arm and smiling past me at him.

"Cyprianus Jayden Amadeus Tryforce." He responded without thinking, glancing once in her direction and then back at me.

"Wow… that's a mouthful."

"Call me Jayden." They continued to talk, and after a few minutes, I was tired of it, and went to throw our lunch trays away. When I came back, they were in a full fledged conversation on the new pop hit that I honestly had never heard of. Clarissa was a pretty good singer, and she liked to follow the music just to have something new to sing every week. I, personally, had never had any interests in music and never intended to. So, naturally, I hadn't heard whatever song they were talking about.

I waited patiently until their conversation was over, oblivious to their voices but totally aware of Jayden's leg pressing against mine. Uncomfortable with the sudden contact, I tried to move my leg away but found myself stuck between his leg and a pole holding up the table, and decided to stick it out for another couple of minutes of lunch.

When it sounded like their conversation was over, I reached for my backpack, but Clarissa caught my arm. "He's not a jerk!" She glanced in his direction, and a nervous smile grew on her lips. I rolled my eyes, knowing he could hear us.

"That's your opinion." I declared, grabbing my backpack and standing up, waiting for her to follow me. She shrugged and whispered something to Jayden before walking past me towards the football fields. Jayden stood up to walk with me, and, being tired of fighting it, I let him escort me to my next class.

"A jerk, huh?" He inquired.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I do think you're a jerk. But I'm quick to jumping to conclusions, and could be wrong." Hoping my reply has satisfied him, I pick up my pace, but he speeds up to stay by my side.

"Could I try and change your mind at dinner some time?"

"We can go to dinner _after _you change my mind. For now, dinner is out of the question." _What am I doing? Turning down a date from who's pretty much the hottest guy in school? Why is he asking me anyway?_

"Fair enough." He smiled. "But what exactly have I done to make you jump to conclusions? I haven't said one mean word to you."

"Yes you… haven't." Replaying the day's events in my mind, I realized suddenly that he was right. He had done nothing but appreciate the small favors he'd asked of me, and I'd done them as impolitely as I possibly could. "You know what, you're right. I'm sorry. But I'm not much of a dinner type girl, anyway." I apologized as politely as I could, and it almost felt strange to be nice to him for once.

"Alright, if you really don't want to. But don't think this means I'm going to stop asking." He smirked, taking my hand and squeezing it once before stalking off in the direction I'd pointed him to go. I stood, awestruck, and watched him until he turned the corner. The bell rang before I could make it into the gymnasium for P.E., and I was happy to have a day just watching the other students play Kickball, even if it meant I would get a little bit in trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I pulled into my driveway, parking the car quietly and hurrying into the house before anyone could notice it was me and not my dad. I had a couple of minutes to relax before I had to hurry off to work at Clarissa's parents shop. They had hired me a couple of months ago when I'd started raising money to buy my own car, but now the money I earned went only to buy my dinners and pay the bills.

_You can tough it out a few more months. When you're eighteen, everything will be easier. _But I know I'm wrong. College will not be an option, as there is no money to pay for it, and absolutely no chance of getting any scholarships. I'll just have to find some kind of work for the next few years. _Or, you could sell the house to get money for college, and hope you have enough when you're out of college. _While this wasn't a bad idea, there wasn't a guarantee I could sell the house, or that I'd want to. This was the house I grew up in, the house filled with memories from my first word to my first time driving. From my mother's death to my father's.

Pouring myself a cup of water, I lounged on the couch with a book for about half an hour before changing into my uniform and driving towards Main Street, where Clarissa's family store was.

Mrs. White smiled wide at me when I walked in, and I returned it passionately. Just as I'd known Clarissa since second grade, her parents had been second parents to me. My mother had died around the time I'd met Clarissa, and her mom gratefully filled the missing link in my family. Whenever she took Clarissa out for a Girl's night, or explained to her what came with growing up, I was graciously accepted into the group. When most girls would have gone to their own mothers for advice, I went to Clarissa's. She'd helped me cope with life without a mother.

"What do you need today, Mrs. White?" I asked as I hung my bag on the hook behind the counter and set up the register.

"Well, inventory's done, and Rosetta cleaned this morning, so there isn't really anything besides running the register to be done." She answered, going into the back room that held the stairs leading to their real home on the second floor. Rosetta was the maid that usually worked up in their large home, but occasionally came down to clean the store, for which I was grateful. I was their only employee, and without her, the job would go to me instead.

Lounging back in the chair behind the counter, I made a quick glance around the beautiful shop, now empty of people. The products ranged from bouquets of flowers to wedding dresses, but genuinely was a woman's paradise. The shop was brilliantly named _The Woman in White _after the family's favorite musical. Knowing the customers wouldn't begin to file in until around four, I pulled out a book and read for the next hour or so.

When a usual customer, Ms. Brinkerhoff came into the shop, I put the book away and made small talk with her until multiple women began to file in. Helping each individually and running the register at the same time proved more challenging today than normal, with a larger number of customers in the shop at once. I was constantly busy during rush hours for the shop, which were usually from four to six, but lasted more until seven today. I normally don't get off until nine, but after six have plenty of time to do my homework behind the counter, and usually receive dinner from the Whites.

Since business had been more chaotic than usual, the Whites hadn't had time to prepare dinner tonight, and I'd had less time to work on my homework. The bell on the door rang, but I didn't bother look up as I was in the middle of a tough problem and figured Mrs. White could handle her. A few moments later, a large hand came down on top of my textbook and I was interrupted from my thoughts. Looking up, irritated, but smart enough not to let it show on my face.

I'm positive I looked more than irritated when I noticed who's hand it was. Jayden stood, smirking, leaning on the counter. It seemed to be his signature position.

"What are you doing here? This is a _women's _shop. For women. You hardly fit that category." I mutter impolitely at him. Mrs. White grunts from beside me, and I quickly picked up the act. "Sorry, do you need any help?" Mrs. White, pleased, walked away and left us alone.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you this before you understand that I _never _need any help?" He inquires, his smirk remaining on his face. "I was just exploring Main Street; I'm new in town, you know."

"And you decided to come into a tiny shop called _The Women in White_?" I demand.

"I noticed you were behind the counter." He replied earnestly, and I give him a scowl. "So, I was thinking, if I've changed your mind of course, that we could go to dinner?" He asked innocently.

I gave him a _You're kidding me! _look, and motioned around the shop. "I'm working." I told him, trying not to be as impolite as I normally am to him.

Mrs. White emerged from the back room just in time to add, "We're not busy right now. In fact, you've had a rough day today. You can have the rest of the night off, if you'd like." She winked.

I took a deep breath and then turned back to Jayden, who had his eyebrows raised. "Well, what do you think?"

"You're lucky I'm hungry." Is all I say as I pick up my homework and put it back in my bag. "Let me go change." He nods, and I hurry up into the house and into Clarissa's room to find something of hers to wear. Normally, I just leave in my uniform, made of black pants, and black shirt, and a white apron, but I wasn't about to go out to dinner wearing that. Quickly choosing a purple sweater and jeans that I knew she wouldn't miss, I threw it on and ran back downstairs.

I composed myself before walking back into the store, calling goodbye to Mrs. White and following Jayden out the door. "Where would you like to go?" He asks as he leads me to his car, a nice, oddly colored red van. He opened the passenger door for me, and I soon realized that the outside was much nicer than the inside.

The seats were torn, and the windows were covered in fingerprints. There was a thin divider between the front two seats and what I guess was an open area in the back, and I didn't ask what he had back there. It looked as if it had once been a nice car, but an animal had attacked the inside of it.

"Sorry, it's a little messy in here." He apologized as he slid into his seat and started the car.

"What… happened to it?" I ask hesitantly.

"It's old. It was my mother's when she lived here. I found it in the garage when I came back to her house." He lies, and I can tell he knows he's been caught when his voice trails off at the end.

"Your mother never lived here."

"Better to hide behind the lies than face the truth." He mutters back, clenching the wheel.

"Whatever, I don't want to know. Where are we going?" I ask, annoyed.

He turns and watches me for a few seconds. "Giulietta's." My jaw drops. _How does he know my favorite restaurant? _I search his face for clues, but he just leans over and closes my jaw with his hand, gently. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no. It's just… how did you know?"

"Know what?" He smirks. I fold my arms over my chest and look out the window.

"Never mind. Watch the road."

We rode in silence for the next few minutes, and I watched him drive out of the corner of my eye. Since Giulietta's is also on Main Street, it doesn't take us long to get there. When we pull into the parking lot, he chooses a parking spot far from the entrance and gets out to open my door for me. He doesn't have to do this for me, but I figure it'd be better to go along with it than get out myself before he can make it to my side.

"Thank you." I tell him when he takes my hand to help me down out of the truck. He drops it as soon as I'm on the ground, though.

It surprises me when we are immediately seated even though there are plenty of customers waiting outside. I ask Jayden about it after we order, but he just shrugs and says, "I know the owner."

Another lie. He came into this town without any friends or relatives. Unless he met the owner few days he's been here, he had to of made the reservations hours ago, also meaning he'd known I was working at_ The Women in White. _

"So you do live alone now?" I ask, eying him while I take a sip of my water. He nods. "Where?"

"_Redfern Groves_. I own a small house near the club house." I knew which neighborhood he meant, it was on the same street as my neighborhood, _Rosedale. _Both were very unusual names for neighborhoods in the middle of Minnesota, where it snowed more than half the year and plants scarcely grew.

"Where did you live before Lithuania?" I feel bad for interrogating him, but am determined to get some answers.

"Ontario."

"You enjoy the cold." I say, as a statement and not a question.

"It doesn't match my style of living, but I've gotten used to it over the years. I don't have much of a choice." He answers, fidgeting with his napkin. I steal a glance up into his blue eyes, and he forces a smile that doesn't reach them.

I don't ask him what he means by not having a choice. "Why are you here?" I say instead. He cocks his head slightly, puzzled.

"To spend time with you." He replies slowly, hesitating.

"No, why are you in Floodwood? What _really _brought you here?" I elaborate.

"Dealing with some… troublemakers." He watches his feet.

I raise an eyebrow. "Troublemakers? Are you some kind of undercover cop?" He laughs, shaking his head and looking back at me.

"Not in your sense, but in truth, yes." I deliberate silently over my next question.

"How long have you been in Floodwood?"

"Nine days." _He arrived before my dad died, _I observe, thinking nothing of it. "Are you done with the interview?" He asks after I've been quiet a few minutes. I blush, nodding.

"Can it be my turn, then?" I nod again. "Do _you _live alone?

I'm reluctant to answer this truthfully, but I'm relatively sure everything he said was the truth, so I decide to give it to him. "Since my father died, yes. But I'm only seventeen, so _no one _can know." I add, and he nods in understanding.

"You don't have to answer this, if you don't want to. But, when did your father die?"

Amazingly, this question doesn't bother me. "Seven days ago." He raises his eyebrows but changes the subject.

"Where do you live?"

"Very original questions." I mutter sarcastically. "_Rosedale. _It's down the street from _Redfern Groves._" We sit in silence for a few moments, and his blue eyes twinkle in the dim lighting of the restaurant. He places his hand on top of mine on the table and strokes my thumb gently.

"Thanks for coming with me tonight. You're the first person I've actually gotten close to in the last nine places I've lived." He whispers slowly.

"Didn't you live in Lithuania for three months?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you at least know someone from your school?"

"I didn't go to school." I pull my hand away from his and rest my head on it, watching him suspiciously.

"Who was the last person you were close with?"

He blinks, "She died."

I take my elbow off the table and lean back in my chair, "I'm sorry. If you don't mind my asking, what happened to her?"

Jayden sighs and shifts uncomfortably. "I was living in Siberia at the time. She was the only teenage girl living in the town, so I decided to get to know her. It was my fault, really. I should have protected her."

Despite my curiosity, I decide not to ask him how she died.

The waitress comes back out with our food, but I notice that both of us have pretty much lost our appetites. I take empty bites of my salad while he picks at his steak. From the way he watches me, I can tell he normally eats a lot, but doesn't want to eat so much in front of me.

"Why do you move around so much?" I ask him, taking another sip of my coke.

"My work."

"You have a job?" His eyes roam around the room, refusing to meet mine right in front of him.

"In theory, no." I raise my eyebrows, and he finally looks at my face. "But I've been working as long as I can remember. My father dragged me into it; I never had much of a choice."

Again he mentions not having a choice. "What about your mom?"

"I never knew her." He puts down his fork and pushes his nearly untouched plate off to the side and leans toward me on the table. "You never told me what happened to your parents."

"I found my mother dead on my living room floor ten years ago. We never found whoever killed her." Jayden takes my hand apologetically from across the table, and I make no move to pull it away. "I'd lived with my dad, until…" I decide not to tell him that the exact same thing happened to my father. It was so recent, and I honestly don't want to know if Jayden knows more about it then I do.

"I'm so sorry. You've only been living by yourself for a week, though?" I nod, and he leans back, still holding my hand. "Isn't that somewhat dangerous, for a teenage girl?"

"How about you? I'm just as qualified to take care of myself as you are." I retaliate.

"There's a reason eighteen is the legal age for adults."

"Two months isn't going to change how safe I am living alone." I argue back. "Besides, Floodwood has the lowest crime rate in Minnesota." I take my hand out of his to cross my arms over my chest.

_The only two people that have ever been killed here are my parents. _Instead of mentioning this, I let him think what I've said over in silence.

After a few minutes, he begins to laugh quietly to himself. I wait for him to calm down and then cock my head slightly, waiting for him to elaborate. "What?"

"Nothing." His face goes serious. "You just, you're so beautiful."

Shocked at hearing this, I sit speechless. "Y-you think I'm beautiful?" I stammered back at him.

"You are beautiful." He responded softly. "Especially your eyes." He leaned over and cupped my cheek in his hand, looking deeply into my green eyes. At the moment, I knew nothing in the world could be more beautiful than him, though. His blue eyes sparkled as they reflected mine and the moonlight, his lips slightly parted and I felt his hot breath on my neck.

For a moment, I expected him to lean in and kiss me, but instead he touched my lips gently with his fingertips and leaned back into his seat. We sat watching each other in silence until the waitress came and picked up our nearly untouched plates and hand him the check.

I thought about arguing over who was going to pay, but knew it was a worthless cause, and that he probably had more money than I did anyway. He stood up to leave and took my hand as we walked out of the restaurant, and I no longer wanted to pull away from his touch.

When we got to his car, he opened the door for me, and when I had trouble buckling the seat belt, he reached over and did it for me. I gasped quietly when his arm brushed my stomach and my heart was beating so loud I knew he could hear it.

He put the car into gear and asked, "Is it ok if I take you somewhere before I drop you off at your house?"

"That depends on where you mean." I trusted him, but wasn't sure I wanted him taking me places against my own will yet.

He took a deep breath, "The cemetery."

I'd been to the cemetery before to visit my mom's grave, but never at night. And always alone. It had been over a year since I'd last taken a trip there though, and I did want to put something of my dad's with her so they could be together, if possible.

I fingered his lucky guitar pick, which I had been wearing on a string as a necklace for the past week. It belonged with my mom. "Sure, we can go."

"Good, I want to show you something." He added, turning into the parking lot at the cemetery, located very close to Main Street.

"What could you possibly have to show me at a cemetery in a city you've never been in before nine days ago?" I muttered under my breath, not anticipating for him to hear or respond.

"I never said I've never been here before." He said, getting out of the car. "I wasn't lying when I said my mom was born here. She lived her whole life here. I just lived with my Dad."

"How did your mom die?" I asked, shivering as a cold wind blew.

"She had a stroke." He answered, looking down. This lie wasn't as obvious as the others had been, but I was almost positive it wasn't the complete truth. "Are you cold?" He asked, changing the subject.

I shook my head, but my teeth began to chatter, and he took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. "Thanks," I said, hurrying after him as he changed the direction he was walking.

"It's so much bigger than it was a year ago." I thought out loud, taking in the hundreds of new tombstones in the cemetery.

"You were here a year ago?" He inquired.

"My mom is buried here. I used to visit her all of the time, until about a year ago. I've been meaning to come up here after my dad… passed away, but I hadn't gotten the chance, until now."

He took another sharp turn, and began heading in the direction I remembered my mom's grave to be. I figured it was just another coincidence that he wanted to show me something near where I wanted to go, but every step he took led me closer to her grave until we were standing right in front of the all-too familiar tombstone.

I bent down and ran my fingers over the engraved letters, reading them silently in my head. _Marissa Claire Polk-Mckenzie, April 1__st__, 1969-October 3__rd__, 2000. _It was a plain stone, and there wasn't any other writing to describe her. My mother and father had been in the middle of a very big fight when she was killed, and he hadn't even paid for her funeral. I pulled the necklace out from beneath my shirt and took it off so I could hold it in my hand.

Now that I think about it, the only reason my parents had stayed together for so long had been me. My dad was much happier after she died, although he never started dating again.

Jayden knelt down beside me and put his hand on the small of my back, and I didn't flinch away from him. "This is your mom's grave?" He asked, surprised. I looked back at him.

"Yeah." My hair blew back in his face when another strong wind came, and he smiled, brushing it back behind my ear.

He noticed the necklace in my hand, "What's this?" He asked, cradling my hand in his so he could look at it closely.

"My dad's lucky guitar pick. I've kept it with me since he died." I placed the pick on the tombstone, tying it around a chunk of rock jutting out from the tomb. "It belongs here." He held my hand encouragingly for a few minutes. "What did you want to show me?"

"I was going to show you my mother's grave."

"Oh." I stood up, thinking he was going to lead me somewhere else. "Where is it?"

He stood up beside me and pointed to the large statue that had always been right next to my mother's grave. I remember as a child hating it because it made her bland tombstone look poor compared to its beauty. It surprised me that I'd never read it before.

"Is that her?" I asked quietly, staring in awe up at the beautiful statue.

"I don't know. I don't remember what she looked like." He said, going over and tracing the pattern on the statue's dress.

"It's such a coincidence that our mother's were buried right next to each other." I thought about the layout of the cemetery, "When did she die?"

"October 4th, 2000." He said from memory, though the dates were on a plate right in front of him.

"That's the day after my mom died." I stated, crossing my arms. "That explains why they're buried next to each other… Do you know how your mom died?"

He hesitated and turned away from me. "No."

I sighed in frustration. "When are you going to stop lying to me?"

"I'm not lying to you." He whispered, holding my elbows so I had to look at him. "I never knew my mom, or how she died."

"I'm not talking about your mom, Jayden. Over half of everything that you've told me all day was a lie, and don't try to tell me otherwise."

I turned to walk towards the exit, noticing that the gates were closed and locked. "Crap. What time is it?" He shrugged, so I pulled my cell phone out of my back pocket. _9:03. _"We're locked in."

"Hardly." He laughed, but there was a nervous ring to it. "C'mon, we need to hurry." Taking my arm, he pulled me quickly towards the nearest part of the fence.

I ripped my arm out of his grasp. "What's the sudden rush?" I was being stubborn now.

"Do you enjoy hanging out in cemeteries in the dark?" He asked rhetorically, taking my hand and practically running to the fence.

"Are you… scared of the dark?" I was laughing at him now.

He stopped to glare back at me. "Hardly." He repeated. "It's your safety I'm nervous for, at this point." He began walking quickly, and I followed him, confused.

"My safety? Jayden, we're the _only _people in this cemetery. The only person who could do anything to harm me is you."

"We're not as alone as you think." He told me as we reached the fence. He tried to boost me, but I stood my ground, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Elina, please. I'll explain later, just climb." I sighed and began to climb, using the iron bars as footrests, and his arm was guiding me. He helped me climb over the top and when I was back on the ground on the other side, he jumped back down in the cemetery.

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed.

"Here's the keys to my car. Drive it back to Main Street, leave it at the shop, and drive your own car home." He held them out but I refused to take them.

"What are you going to do in there?" I asked him. "I'm not just going to leave you here!"

"Nothing, I'll be fine. Just go!" He held out the keys again, glancing worriedly back into the dark cemetery.

"I'll walk back to Main Street." I said, turning, but he caught my wrist.

"You're not walking alone at night." He argued back.

"Then I guess I'll have to wait until you finish doing whatever you plan on doing in there."

"No. Elina, please take my car. Trust me, I'll be fine. Please, go." His eyes were begging me to agree, but anger flashed through them every time he whipped his head back around towards the cemetery.

"Fine." I gave in. Whatever he was going to do, I didn't want to have anything to do with it. So I took the keys and walked back over to his red van, climbing in and starting it before looking back towards the cemetery and watching Jayden sprint abnormally fast out into the dark.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! I hope you like the story.**

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**This chapter is mostly fluff, but it I get a couple of reviews I can post the next chapter(which isn't fluff!) very soon!**

Chapter Three

Jayden wasn't at school the next day. I waited anxiously throughout all of my classes for him to show up late, but he never came. _What happened to me? Yesterday I hate him for no reason and today I'm acting like he's my boyfriend? _The same thoughts ran through my head all day, and I can honestly say I didn't listen to one word that came out of any of my teachers' mouths, or Clarissa's.

It was at work that night that I saw him again. He walked past the shop window, and I threw down my Latin textbook and ran out the door to catch up with him, knowing Mrs. White could watch the shop for a few minutes.

"Jayden, wait up!" I called as I shut the door. He turned around and frowned when he saw me.

"Elina." I stopped when I was in front of him.

"Jayden! What happened last night?" I said, louder than necessary. He put a finger on my lips to quiet me and grabbed my arm, leading me around the corner of a shop and into what looked like a dark alley. "Why weren't you at school today?"

"I was busy."

"That's hardly an excuse. And you owe me answers." I told him, crossing my arms and leaning back against the building. He looked down, stepping in front of me, and putting his arms on either side of me, holding me against the wall.

He took a deep breath. "I wasn't at school today because I was healing."

"Healing? What _really _happened last night?"

"I told you I came here to take care of troublemakers. Last night I was dealing with a couple of them, and I… hurt my leg." He looked up into my eyes.

"Hurt your leg? How badly?" I bent down to examine his leg and he flinched away from me.

"I broke it." I looked up at him, narrowing my eyes.

"You _broke _it? You _broke _your leg last night, but you're walking fine now?" I stood up, furious at him. "You know what? I don't even care. I'm tired of you lying to me, so I don't care anymore." Ducking under his arms, I escaped and began to walk away.

"Wait." Jayden said from behind me. I stopped, but did not turn around. "I'm sorry. I won't lie to you again. Everything I say from now on will be the complete, honest truth. You deserve that." He grabbed my wrist. "Please, don't leave."

"Why should I stay?" I asked, still facing away from him.

"I know I've lied to you, but I thought it was for your own good. If you want the truth, I'll tell you. But I have to warn you, it isn't going to make you feel any better about me."

I finally turned around to face him. "I don't want to know every little detail about your past, Jayden. All I want is the truth about last night." He sighed, dropping my wrist.

"It's a lot more complicated than you think."

I ran my hand through my hair and turned away from him again. "Either you tell me, or I leave."

I jumped when his arms snaked around me and I felt his breath on my neck. "How about I tell you tomorrow night, over dinner?" He whispered in my ear.

"Promise me you'll be at school tomorrow, and that you'll answer every question I ask you _truthfully_." I told him, unraveling his arms and stepping away from him.

"I promise." He paused, "Common Grounds sound good?"

I debated this in my head. "Fine. I have to get back to work." I started to walk away.

"I'll walk you there." He took my hand and led me back around the shop and past a few more shops until we were back at _The Women in White. _"I'll see you at school tomorrow." I told him, as more of a command than a statement. He nodded.

"Thanks for waiting." He smiled, kissing my cheek before disappearing nearly as fast as he had last night.

He was, as promised, at school the next day. In Calculus, Mrs. Bergstrom had a Pop Quiz and neither of us had any time to talk about the night's plans during class. Instead, we communicated silently when he pushed his test to the side of his desk and let me copy his answers after I'd sent him a panicked look a few minutes into the test.

In Chemistry, Mr. Troop surprised us by assigning a long-term project that would have to be entirely completed out of class. Of course, we were allowed to work with a partner if we so desired, and as Clarissa was definitely not in an AP class, Jayden was the only person I even kind of wanted to work with.

He nodded very slightly when I met his eyes from two seats away from him.

My next three classes passed uneventfully without Jayden, and then it was lunchtime. Clarissa met me outside of the lunchroom, saying that Grant was sick and she didn't want to sit with the jocks without him, so we sat at our own table again today.

Clarissa went ecstatic when she noticed Jayden walking our way. I just shrugged and didn't he glance up at him when he sat down beside me. "Hey Jayden!" Clarissa flirted. I rolled my eyes and mouthed _Grant _before turning back to my food.

"Ladies." Jayden smiled, winking at me. Clarissa gasped and nudged my arm, obviously having seen it as well. "Are we still on for tonight, Elina?"

I nodded. "But I do have to work, so I won't make it until later."

"No, you don't have to work. I'll tell my mom you have other plans, she'll understand. I can cover your shift tonight, if she needs me to." Clarissa spoke up from beside me. "You work too much anyway."

I sighed, accepting her offer. "Sure, thanks Clarissa. What time then, Jayden?" I asked, turning back to him.

"Five?" He raised his eyebrows, smirking down at me.

"Sounds great." I answered genuinely, glancing down at his untouched plate. An awkward silence followed, all unwilling to start a conversation with just one of the other two, and no one knowing how to create small talk we all could relate too.

I turned back to Clarissa, "What's wrong with Grant?" I asked quietly. Jayden ate silently beside me, his hand resting on the small of my back. I ignored it, but I heard a few people murmuring about it behind us. I knew he heard it too, but he didn't move his hand or try to correct them.

_Maybe he thinks they don't need to be corrected. Maybe he thinks… well, I'll make sure he knows there's nothing going on between us, yet, tonight. But so far he's made it seem like he _wants _something to be going on between us. Is that what I want?_

Clarissa waved her hand in front of my face, breaking me from my trance. "Elina? Hello? I _said _that someone hit Grant a little too hard yesterday at practice and they think he might have a slight concussion. He went to the emergency room, but they sent him home and said he'd be fine as long as he didn't go to school or practice for the next couple of days, so he's out for the rest of the week."

"Slight concussion? Who ran into him?" Jayden asked from beside me, taking his hand off my back so he could rest his head on it.

"Brandon Greene." Clarissa replied as if this explained everything. In part, it did. Brandon was the biggest, strongest kid in school, and the head offensive linemen on the school's football team. He was also one of the biggest sweethearts I've ever known. He had probably sent Grant flowers already apologizing for running him over.

"Well, tell him I hope he feels better." I said apologetically, and she nodded.

"Sure thing. So, Jayden, you haven't really told me much about yourself yet." She smiled almost menacingly. "I'm going to have to interview you to make sure you're good enough for Elina."

"Oh, you really don't have to—" I began, but she cut me off.

"But if you act as good as you look, I'm sure you'll pass." She winked at him, and I rolled my eyes again, hiding my embarrassment. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"What sports do you play?" He gave her a confused look, and she elaborated. "You're too fit and muscular not to play any sports."

"Well, I, umm… hunt." He answered, looking down, sliding an inch away from me. I frowned, looking away from him.

Clarissa gasped. "What kind of animals?"

"Bad ones." He grunted, making it clear he didn't want to discuss the topic any further. I sighed, hoping Clarissa would change the subject.

She did, but I wasn't any happier about the new one. "So, Elina, how's your dad doing?" Jayden raised his eyebrows at me, but I sent him a glare that meant _Don't you dare say a word,_ and he went back to eating quietly.

"H-he's… fine." I stammered. _Why does Clarissa even care about my dad? Does she know? Is she trying to catch me lying to her? _I worried.

"He still a pediatrician?" She asked, and I nodded, glad I wasn't having to lie completely to answer that question. He _had _been a pediatrician.

In the next few moments of silence within our group, the noise level in the cafeteria grew substantially, and I felt the beginning of a pounding headache forming. Sighing, I put my fork down and began to rub my temples, gaining strange looks from both sides of me.

"The chicken is good today." Clarissa stated, and Jayden nodded in agreement, already having finished his meal. "Why aren't you eating, Elina? You never eat anymore." She added, though she knew just as well as I did that if either of us was going to be declared anorexic, it would be her.

Clarissa was the perfect amount of skinny. Flat stomach, small hips, medium sized chest, and long legs. She was definitely thin, but not stick-thin-rib-showing skinny. She lacked the metabolism to keep it that way though, and she had to carefully control her diet and exercise often.

I, on the other hand, had the perfect metabolism for being skinny. I suppose that's the only reason I still am skinny now. As a pre-teen, I'd eaten like a pig. After entering high school, I'd slowed down a little bit, but I'd never had trouble keeping my stomach flat. I could eat an entire cow in one sitting and only gain a small stomach bump that would go away within the next couple of days.

What I lacked was the amazing curves Clarissa had. My chest was somewhere between medium and small, and my hips were also mid-sized. Although I'm not as tall as her, my legs are long like hers.

She elaborated on her earlier statement, bringing me back to reality. "Elina!" She snapped her fingers in front of my eyes. "I'm going to start shoveling food down your throat unless you lick that plate clean." Jayden chuckled from my other side and I fought the urge to turn and glare at him, again.

"I'm not hungry. I had a big breakfast before I came to school." I lied.

"Do have company in town?" She asked, pushing her own plate aside now that she was done.

"No."

"Then you're lying to me. Your dad doesn't make you fancy breakfasts, he leaves for work at five. You yourself have no desire for large breakfasts, you prefer a cup of coffee and a piece of toast, so you wouldn't make yourself a big meal. The only reason you would have a large breakfast is if you had family visiting, which has never happened since the day I met you, and is apparently not the case now." She finished her monologue, finally breathing again.

I winced, anticipating another lecture from Clarissa, but she didn't say anything more. Feeling bad, I took a few more bites of my food before getting up to throw all three of our trays away, hoping that would make her happy.

My headache had gotten worse, and my temples were now throbbing painfully against my skull with every step I took. I contemplated going to the nurse's office and leaving to go home, but I knew they would try to contact my father, and I couldn't let that happen.

Instead, I sat through the rest of the brutal lunch period, with an angry best friend and a confused friend unwilling to leave the matter alone until we _were _alone.

And he did bring the matter up as soon as Clarissa was gone. "You lied to me." He blamed me as we walked towards my next class, P.E.

"No I didn't. I lied, but not to you." I explain, shifting my backpack to my other shoulder. He raised his eyebrows, questioning me further. "I actually didn't have a big breakfast this morning."

He laughed, but I knew he wanted the real answer.

"My father really is dead." I added quietly. "I haven't told Clarissa yet." He surprised me by taking my hand gently.

"You told me before you told Clarissa?" He sounded extremely grateful and loved, and I couldn't help but melt in the tone of his voice.

"Yes." He held my hand tighter, rubbing circles in the back of it. "I surprised myself by admitting what I did to you." I took a deep breath, "When I'm talking to you, I feel like I can tell you anything and everything will be alright." I blushed, mortified I slipped my hand out of his, feeling like I'd ruined it. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

He grabbed my hand again, "Don't apologize." He continued without hesitation, "I know exactly how you feel."

I waited for him to elaborate, but before he could we reached the gym, and the bell rang. He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it softly before dropping it and disappearing around the corner to his class. I slipped, awestruck, into the gym, unnoticed.

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	4. Chapter 4

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Chapter Four

Five O'clock came around a lot faster than I anticipated. My nerves fluttered throughout my whole body for the three hours after school as I sat still, thinking. I no longer had cable, nor internet, and there was nothing else for me to really do in my free time at the house. I'd been working at _The Woman in White _for three years, from the moment I'd turned fourteen. I hadn't had much free time after that.

I did spend almost an hour trying to decide what to wear, though. I had a small closet, mostly consisting of jeans and sweaters(it's cold in Minnesota), and I knew we were only going to be at the coffee house.

In the end, I chose a tight purple blouse that accentuated the little chest I had acquired, and a shorter black skirt that I didn't remember buying or wearing before.

I was out the door when I saw his red van speeding down the street. It flew into my driveway and came to a stop only three feet in front of me.

I held up a finger, signaling I'd be just a minute, and ran back inside to get my purse and put my car keys back.

He was standing, holding my door open when I came back out. I shivered and folded my arms across my chest as I got in.

"Hey."

"Hey." He turned on the radio at a small volume and backed out of my driveway. "How did you find my house?" I asked.

"It's a small neighborhood. I saw you standing on your driveway as soon as I turned onto this street." I nodded, although I knew there was a lie in there somewhere.

I waited a while before reminding him, "You owe me answers."

"Yes."

"So you'll answer _truthfully _to anything I ask tonight?"

He hesitated, "Yes." We turned out of my neighborhood and headed towards Main Street.

"Would you prefer I ask you the tough questions now, or later?" I asked him after a long silence.

"Now. That way you can leave if you really want to." He whispered back.

"Leave? Why would I want to leave?" I paused to think about it, "Wait. You're… human, right?"

"Technically, yes." I let out a huge breath of relief.

I built up the courage to glance over at him, wondering how he could possibly be _technically _human.

I decided to skip the topic. "What happened in the graveyard the other night, after I left?"

"I had business to take care of. The trouble-makers I told you I take care of were wreaking their usual havoc." He answered calmly.

"You aren't being very specific."

"I told you I'd tell the truth. I never agreed to describing it in full detail." He retaliated. I sighed, knowing I'd have to come up with questions that made him tell me what I wanted to know.

"Who are the trouble-makers that you 'take care of'?"

He took a deep breath, and I knew I'd get what I wanted with his next answer. "Demons."

_Demons? Does he really think I'm that stupid? _"Of course, I ask for the truth, and this is what I get."

"So I try to tell you the truth and you don't believe it?" He forcibly shut off the radio.

"Do you really expect me to believe that _Demons _were in the cemetery the same time I was?"

"They were."

"Then show me. Next time you have to go 'take care of these _Demons', _bring me with you."

"You can't see them. It'd be too dangerous." I shook my head, furious that this was sounding more and more made-up with every question I asked.

"So you fight Demons in cemeteries all around the world? That's why you move from country to country?" There was a sarcastic tone in my voice.

"In a way, yes. This is my first time working alone. I didn't know how many powerful Demons were here, and now I don't think I can handle them all by myself." His voice was calm again, despite my comments.

"Fine, you know what? You don't want to tell me the truth, so we're going back to asking normal questions for the rest of the evening. I don't want to hear anything else about your _Demons. _You got it?" I finally told him.

"Always." I turned and glared at him after this comment, but didn't say anything.

We rode in silence until we were in the parking lot at Common Grounds, a small restaurant/coffee house that was very popular among the students in Floodwood.

We chose a two-person booth by the window after we'd gotten inside.

"Listen, I'm sorry I flipped out earlier about the… Demons." I paused, trying to build up the courage to say what I was about to. "But do you honestly think that I'm stupid enough to believe that?"

He frowned. "I thought we weren't going to talk about it."

The waitress walked up to our table, introducing herself as Elaine and showing an obvious interest in Jayden. I don't know why this made me jealous, after what he'd said earlier, but it did.

I ordered a Coke, and he did as well. She stayed and asked him a couple of questions before leaving, but to my delight he answered them all half-heartedly and never looked her in the eyes. She scowled and pranced off.

"So… what's your favorite color?" I asked him, trying to create small talk.

"Green." He answered mysteriously.

"Why?"

"It's the opposite of red. And you?"

"I always thought blue was the opposite of red. Since red is so obviously a warm color, and blue is evidently the most cool, I always thought they were the reverse of each other." I argued.

"I think of red as the color of blood and death, and green the color of life and happiness, making them contradict each other." He retaliated.

"I guess that's an interesting way of looking at it."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, "Have you ever seen a field covered in blood?"

"No…"

"It's one of the most beautiful and horrendous things that I've ever seen." I gave him a strange look, "In some eyes, they see the after math of a grueling battle and the stains of a dead man. In other eyes, they marvel at the comparison between the horror of the blood and the beauty of the earth as it soaks up any last traces of the battle.

"A wise man once told me that. The next day, he was killed in a battle, and while I overlooked the arena, I watched his words come to life. One group of people were weeping and demanding his body be taken away, while another group was demanding the scene be left alone. I joined the second group, and at that moment I saw the truth in his words as I, too, marveled at the blood stained earth."

I was speechless. He looked almost guilty for laying his story on me, but I was grateful that he did. "That's a touching story." I whispered as Elaine put our Coke's on the table and lingered longer than necessary. I was surprised that I'd never seen her before considering the total population of Floodwood is little more than 500.

She left when Jayden glared at her.

"How did you know the man?" I asked softly. He raised his eyes to look with gentle eyes up at me from his drink.

"He was my father."

I was speechless, again. I lay my hand gently on his and whispered, "I'm sorry," for lack of better words. He twisted his fingers between mine and interlocked our hands.

"Are you ready to believe me now?" He was hopeful.

I sighed, "I don't know. How can Demons exist on Earth? Aren't they supposed to be in the Underworld?"

"Yes. But twenty-seven years ago the riff between our worlds was broken, and about five hundred Demons came to Earth before we could close it. My family is the last Demon Hunter blood line left on Earth, so it's up to us to get rid of them.

"The same thing happened in around the year 300, and the Demons destroyed the Library of Alexandria. Then again, around 1000 when they caused the Three Crusades. We thought it would never happen again after that, and the Demon Hunter blood line began to die out. We're lucky our family is still left, or the Demons would have already caused a major disaster."

"So how many people in your family are Demon Hunters?" I asked, still suspicious, but it was becoming more realistic, I guess.

"There are seven others alive right now. Two of my brothers, one sister, three uncles, and my grandfather. Not everyone born with the blood gets the powers."

"How many of the 500 Demons are still left?"

He looked upset at this question, "We're not sure. Hopefully only about 200, but the riff might have opened again."

"How come humans don't know about Demons and Demon Hunters?"

"We've chosen for it to be a secret, so as not to alarm you. My Grandfather is the eldest Demon Hunter right now, so he makes the decisions."

"Where are the rest of them then, if there were Demons in the cemetery?"

"We spread out all over the world, so we can cover more ground. That's why I move from place to place all of the time. I used to travel with my father since I'm the youngest Demon Hunter alive, but when he died, they figured I was old enough to do my own work."

The waitress came back with our food and this time left without even asking if everything was what we had ordered. I grinned slightly, but went back to being serious and asked another question.

"You're supposed to deal with Demons by yourself? What exactly can Demons do that makes them so bad?"

"They're invisible to humans. They pretty much look like little red elves; they have long, sharp claws, pointy ears, and they're actually pretty small. That's why they're so dangerous, because we underestimate them all of the time.

"When they're in packs, they can do pretty much anything they want to do to you. They usually use their teeth to rip up their prey. Animals can actually sense them and see vague shadows of them, so usually their prey is humans; it's just easier for them. They feed on souls. The only way to kill them is to plunge two blades into both of their shoulders at once."

I shuddered, wishing he was kidding, but knowing that he wasn't. "Demons have been on Earth before without humans knowing?" He nodded. "What makes you a Demon Hunter and not a human?"

This was obviously a question he didn't want to answer. He shifted uncomfortably for awhile before finally answering.

"For one, we can see Demons. We're born with tattoos on our arms," he lifted his sleeve up to show me his, two small stars connected by what looked like a snake, "and Demons can tell us apart from humans. We're naturally faster and stronger than humans, but not to the point where are unmistakably inhuman. Our minds are linked strongly to one another's, and we can communicate from across the globe if we choose to.

"We make special swords we use to kill them, we heal extremely fast, but our main defense is a strange force field like projection we use to fend off Demons."

I watched him with careful eyes until I was positive he was done explaining. He pulled his hand away from mine and sat back in his chair, running his eyes over my face for any kind of reaction. Neither of us had touched our food.

"You're not kidding." I whispered, the truth finally dawning on me. "How many Demons were in the cemetery with us?"

"Nine. More than usual in one town. I killed four of them, but the rest got away."

"Is that how you—"

"Broke my leg? Yes. But it was fine by this morning." He tried a bite of his pizza and then pushed his plate away, his appetite gone.

"Wow, you do heal fast." Our eyes met and we held each other's gaze for a few moments.

"I'm glad you believe me now." He whispered, leaning forward and taking my hand in both of his.

"I still want you to show me. Next time you go—hunting—bring me with you."

He sighed, "I can't. It'd be way too dangerous. You can't see them, and they'd sense your soul. Absolutely not."

"Fine. But you _will _tell me next time you have to go fight them." He nodded, holding my hand tighter when Elaine came back.

"I'm assuming you two want boxes for your dinners?"

"Yes." Jayden answered.

"Here's the check." She threw it on the table and stomped off, returning with two small boxes and taking our drinks.

Jayden pulled out his wallet and put a fifty on the check without even bothering to look at it to see how much the meal had cost.

"She doesn't deserve a tip at all, but it's the smallest thing I have in my wallet right now." He explained when I gave him an odd look.

"You don't have to pay for me…" I had to admit I was surprised that he even had fifty dollars in his wallet, let alone _more _than that. Jayden didn't strike me as the rich type, but then again…

He didn't respond. Instead, he piled our food into one of the boxes and handed it to me. "Take it. I don't want it."

I pushed his hand away. "It's yours."

"I don't want it." He repeated, and I sighed stubbornly and let him take my hand and lead me out of the small restaurant.

He turned and walked down the sidewalk instead of heading for his car. "Where are we going?"

"I want you to hang out with Clarissa for the rest of the night. It's Friday, sleepover at her house or something. I have to hunt, and I don't want you staying alone tonight." I laughed, adjusting my purse on my shoulder.

"I appreciate the thought, Jayden, but I can't just walk into Clarissa's house and tell her that I'm sleeping over." His blue eyes searched mine, confused.

"Why not?"

I laughed again, louder. "You really aren't human."

"You're taking it well." He laughed with me.

I shrugged, "I guess I'm used to weird things happening in my life." He dropped my hand and put his arm around my shoulders instead. "Hey, I want you to show me something."

"And what's that?"

"Show me how strong you are, or how fast you can run. I want to see the real you." I leaned into him, and my head only reached his bicep. Not even his shoulder.

"Not tonight. Tonight, I need my strength. But I promise, I will another time, ok?"

"Alright. But you promised, and I'm holding you to it." We'd reached _The Woman in White _and were standing outside now.

"Stay here tonight." He told me firmly, turning me so I stood in front of him. "I'll see you tomorrow for dinner." I nodded.

"Thanks for telling me the truth."

"Thanks for believing." He added, leaning in and kissing my cheek again before giving me a small push towards the door and waving goodbye. I was disappointed that he hadn't really kissed me, but I knew it would happen someday. _Maybe tomorrow. _I reminded myself of what I had to look forward to, and then slipped into the shop, knowing they'd be happy to let me stay the night.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Ok, this is probably going to be the last chapter up until I get back from China, since I'm leaving in two days.**

**And there's a pretty bad cliffhanger at the end(sorry!), so unless you guys review you'll have to wait for two and a half weeks to see what happens!**

**(I would write in an evil laugh here, but I'm not an evil person. Well, I don't think I am.)**

**Is this an evil thing to do to people, leaving them with a cliffhanger for two and a half weeks?**

**Hmm... maybe I am evil.**

**I don't know, but I won't be evil if someone reviews!**

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Chapter Five

I went to Floodwood's library the next morning, and logged on to a computer for the first time in a few years. Opening up a Google webpage, I typed in _Demon Hunters _and spent over three hours looking for any information I could find on the topic.

There was only one webpage that was logical information that matched what Jayden had told me.

The last thing it said was, _But beware, Demon Hunters can be just as mysterious and dangerous as the Demons themselves._

I tried my best to forget that I'd ever read that when I'd gotten back home. To pass time, it was only one o'clock, I baked a few random desserts and got involved in a new book. I vowed I'd be ready to go somewhere by five, just in case, but I was actually ready by four.

Jayden was ringing the doorbell at exactly 5:17. I hurried to answer it, smiling and adjusting my shirt. "Hey beautiful." He said, and I blushed, taking his hand and letting him lead me out to the car after I locked the door.

"So where are we going tonight?" I asked when he started the car.

"My house. There's someone I want you to meet." For some reason this idea wasn't settling well with me.

"Who?"

"My sister, Felicity." My face must have shown fear, because he added, "But she's not a Demon Hunter. My other sister, Mariana, is the Demon Hunter."

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Nine. Six brothers, three sisters. Seven older, two younger. After the Demons came back, my parents wanted as much help as they could get. After me, though, no one else had the gift."

"So eight Demon Hunters are supposed to fight hundreds of Demons, and win?"

"Pretty much. Anyway, Felicity was traveling and checking in on all of us and I told her about you. She refused to leave until she'd met you."

"You told her about me? How long has she been… visiting?"

"She drove in this morning and she's leaving tonight."

I fidgeted with my hands in my lap, and after a few moments he put his hand over them to stop me from tapping them. "I promise, it won't be that bad. She's cooking us dinner right now."

I sighed, "Alright."

He smiled, playing with my hand. "Good, because we're here." He pulled into the driveway of a very large house. I stared up at it in awe.

"You live _here_?" He opened my door for me and helped me out of the van. "You said you lived down the street from the clubhouse, not _in _the clubhouse!"

He laughed, putting his arm around me and leading me up the long walkway leading to the front door. "This isn't the clubhouse." He moved my chin gently to see the small building across the street. "That's the clubhouse." It was probably only a fifth the size of the mansion looming before me.

"I didn't even know houses like this existed in _Redfern Groves._"

"This is one of a kind, I suppose." He turned the door, and it opened automatically, not locked. "Come on, she won't bite."

A wonderful smell wafted into my nose as soon as I stepped into the spacious foyer. "I heard that, and I'm not sure I can make any such promises!" I heard a female voice yell from the kitchen.

I stepped close to Jayden, who laughed and pulled me into the kitchen without giving me a tour at all. I tried my best to put on a smile as I fearfully faced the unknown.

"You must be Elina. Jayden's told me so much about you!" A small girl with vibrant, curly red hair said, smiling as she held out her hand for me to shake. She looked nothing like Jayden, who was tan, muscular and dark haired. Felicity was pale, thin, and fragile-looking, but there was a fierce look in her eyes.

"Elina, this is my sister Felicity." I shook her hand weakly, and she went back to tending to something on the stove.

"Jayden, Hector called. He told me to tell you that he's done in New Zealand and he's going to Boston now." She told him loudly over the noises the cooking was making.

"I'm sure he's excited to be back in America." Jayden responded, and she nodded.

"This'll only take a few more minutes; you two make yourself comfortable." Felicity said.

Jayden bit back what I'm sure was a sarcastic comment, and led me to the large living room and pulled me down next to him on a couch. "Are their names all as long as yours?" I asked him, curious.

He nodded. "Yes. We all have three names, traditional Demon Hunter protocol, even if their human. Antaram Felicity Arien Tryforce is Felicity's full name. We all go by our second name for short."

"Is Hector one of the other two Demon Hunters?"

"Yes. Hector is my oldest brother, the strongest of our kind, since he's still young." He began making circles on the back of my hand.

"Tell me about the rest of your siblings and your uncles."

He exhaled deeply and thought about it for a while. "I'll start from the top and work my way down. My grandfather is Grand Demon Hunter Leolin, and he lives in our headquarters in Lithuania. My father's three brothers are Marcus: 49, Victor: 44, and Connor: 37. None of them have children of their own, but they all are Demon Hunters and travel the world separately finding and killing Demons.

"My oldest sibling is Hector. He's twenty-seven, and he has probably killed the most Demons out of all of my siblings. He's a loner though, and he refuses to take any of us with him on his missions. He was born the same year the Demons came, and my Uncle Victor actually blames his for the whole event.

"After him is Felicity, she's twenty-five. She's human, but she travels around the world constantly checking up on all of us to make sure we're ok. Then there's Luke, twenty-four. He's married and probably lives the most normal life out of all of us, working as a police chief in Texas.

"Then another Demon Hunter was born, Castor. He's twenty-three, and he's stationed in Europe near Lithuania to protect Grand Demon Hunter Leolin if needed. Castor's the smartest out of all of us, I suppose.

"Christopher, human, is twenty-two. He was given to an orphanage at birth because my parents couldn't afford to raise another child, but recently—a stroke of good luck brought us _a lot _of money—" he gestured to the house around him , "We found him and brought him back into our care. He likes to stay with our grandfather, but he has a house and job in France that requires most of his attention.

"Mariana is the only female Demon Hunter left, she's twenty-one. She's headstrong and stubborn, but she knows what she wants. She's a loner like Hector, but she checks in with Luke in Texas every couple of months. Then there's human Peter, who also lives a relatively normal life. He's only twenty, but he's attending college at Julliard right now, and I sincerely hope he succeeds.

"I'm after Peter, and then there's Milo, sixteen. He's human, but he tags along and fights with Castor all of the time since Castor is his legal guardian at the moment. My youngest sister is Trinity, fourteen. Some of us think she may secretly hold some Demon Hunter powers that haven't developed yet, but she doesn't have the tattoo. Anyway, she travels with Felicity."

I took in the monstrous family that he had described. They all sounded like intelligent, strong people, Demon Hunter or not. "If Trinity travels with Felicity, wouldn't she be here?" I asked him, confused.

"She is." He replied, pointing at the ceiling. "She's shy." I nodded, understanding.

"If you had to choose one, which of your siblings would you consider your favorite?" I asked him, for the first time wishing I had siblings of my own.

"I love them all equally, but Mariana is probably the most intriguing." His answer surprised me. I had expected Castor or Hector, one of the other male Demon Hunters. Then again, Mariana is the closest Demon Hunter to his age.

"What are we having for dinner?" I asked when the noises from the kitchen finally stopped.

"I thought it was spaghetti of some kind, but when we came back it didn't look very much like that, so I'm not exactly sure." He stood up and pulled me up with him. "I'm going to go tell Trinity that dinner is ready is she wants to eat." He told me, and I nodded as he made his way up a winding staircase. I followed the smells back into the kitchen, where Felicity was setting the table.

"Hey, Elina, would you mind helping me a little bit?" She asked politely.

"Sure, what do you want me to do?" I responded, happy to help.

"Could you put those five plates around the table over there?" I nodded, taking them and doing what she said.

Then I realized there were only four of us, "Wait, five plates? Who's the other person then?" I asked.

"Oh, silly me! I've never been very good at math." She laughed nervously. "You can just leave it on the counter then." Her answer didn't exactly satisfy me, but I left the matter alone when Jayden came back downstairs with a young teenage girl on his heels.

"Trinity, this is Elina. Elina, Trinity." I smiled politely and held out my hand for her to shake. She did so, but it was faint and she pulled her hand away immediately.

She looked the complete opposite of both Felicity and Jayden. She had long, straight blonde hair and neither pale nor tan skin. She was about 5'3, and she was very skinny.

"It's so nice to meet you two." I said kind of awkwardly. Jayden surprised me by putting his arm around me in front of his sisters, and they both smiled brightly when they noticed.

"Bon Appetite!" Felicity announced, putting multiple containers filled with food on a dinner table big enough for their entire family with only four plates on it.

After we'd all chosen food for our plates, and had eaten comfortable amounts, Felicity began my interview. "So, Elina, how many siblings do you have?"

"None. I don't have any family at all." I answered with a somewhat positive ring in my voice.

"No family? You live by yourself? Jayden told me you were seventeen!" Felicity gave him a fierce glare.

"I am. My father died last week and no one knows that I'm living by myself." I took another bite of my spaghetti.

"Oh. Well I'm sure you're always welcome here." She told me, grinning at Jayden. He nonchalantly went to flick her off, but I grabbed his hand, stopping him.

"Do you play any sports? What's your favorite subject in school?" She continued as if nothing had happened.

"No, and math." Jayden chuckled beside me.

"It's hard to like something you're not good at." He whispered in my direction. I scowled at him.

"I _am _good at math. You're just a freak show in school." I shot back at him.

"Jayden's always been smart. He's almost as smart as Castor." Trinity spoke for the first time. I turned to stare at her, but she blushed and looked away.

"We're blessed with an extremely smart family." Felicity whispered in the silence. Jayden nodded and pushed his food away.

"Do you want anything else to eat? I can make dessert, if you want." Felicity told me, picking up the dishes.

"No, thank you though. It was amazing." I told her, and she beamed.

"I knew I would like you." She said mysteriously as she walked away. Jayden pushed away from the table and stood up, and I followed his example.

"I'm sorry about her." Jayden whispered in my ear before leading me into the living room again. "They're leaving in a couple of minutes."

I sighed, sinking back into the couch. "Did they stay just to meet me?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"How much did you tell them about me?" I eyed him suspiciously.

He blushed, "A lot, actually. Almost everything you've told me."

"Why?"

He sighed, grabbing my hand. "You're the first person that I've gotten close to in a long time." He paused, "I'm usually a very moody and depressed person, but when I'm around you, all of that changes."

Trinity came and sat on the couch opposite of us, quietly staring over our heads at Felicity in the kitchen. At that moment I wanted really badly to know what was going on in her head.

She directed her attention to Jayden, "Mother says 'tomorrow is always a new day'." She whispered out of the blue, her face hard. "Don't forget your purpose on this Earth." She finished, standing up and striding back up the stairs.

I watched her retreat, both scared and intrigued by her performance. "What did she mean?"

"I don't know. She says a lot of things like that every now and again. We've gotten used to it, but I still think it's the slight Demon Hunter working in her that has her saying it." He explained, leading me back into the kitchen.

"I'm going to take her home." He told Felicity, giving her a hug and kissing her cheek. "Thanks for stopping by and making dinner. Tell Trinity that I said good-bye." He said, his voice raspy.

She nodded and came to give me a hug as well, "It was so nice to meet you, I hope I see you sometime again soon, Elina!" She bid her farewells and then Jayden took me to another door that led to a six-car garage in which his red van was parked. I didn't ask how it'd gotten there.

"Are they going to leave before you get back?" I asked him quietly as he helped me into the van.

"Yes." He started the car, "They have to be in Boston tomorrow morning."

"Do they drive?" I asked, noticing the other cars in the garage, but Jayden shook his head.

"No. They have to go overseas all of the time. They travel by multiple means of transportation." I glanced once last time at the beautiful house as we drove away.

"Who's cars were those then?" I asked.

He laughed softly, "Mine."

"But they looked so… nice. If you have those cars, why do you use this one?" I questioned, hesitating.

He laughed again, "It's best for my work. When I kill a Demon, I have to dispose of their body a certain way, and to do that I have to transport them. That's why it's so messy and the seats are ripped in here."

I frowned, "Wait, you transport _living_ Demons?" I was terrified.

"Sometimes. If it's necessary."

"When is that ever necessary? Why can't you just kill them first?"

"Hey, sweetheart, why don't you leave my job to me, and focus on your own work, alright?" He said in a much softer voice than I anticipated, helping me calm down.

He took my hand so it didn't seem like as much of a rude thing to say after that, and we drove the rest of the way to my house with only the noise of the radio.

When we pulled into my driveway, he sat in the driver's seat, not bothering to turn off the engine.

"You can come inside, if you want." I told him, getting out of the car.

"I don't know…" He responded, shaking his head.

I moved around to his side of the van and opened his door, grabbing his arm and pulling him out. "Come on, we can watch a movie or something."

He sighed, giving up and allowing me to lead him into the house. Instead of going to the living room, I led him immediately up the stairs into my bedroom, where the only television was hooked up to an old DVD player. Next to it there was a small shelf lined with old movies.

I could tell Jayden was unsure about being in my room, but he didn't say anything. It was abnormally clean in my room, for once, and I thanked my luck for having me clean it earlier today.

"Pick one." I repeated, motioning to the shelf, "I've seen them all, I don't care which one you choose." He sighed and pulled out one at random, a romantic comedy.

I shrugged and put it into the DVD player, sitting him down on the bed beside me.

We spent the next hour watching the movie, sitting on my bed with his arm around me, until we got bored of it and went downstairs to get something to eat.

Jayden stopped, frozen, as soon as we walked into the living room. "Oh my god." He whispered, dropping my arm. "Shit."

I turned around and glared at him for his language, but the look on his face changed my glare into confusion. "What's wrong?" I whispered, unsure that I wanted to know.

He glanced at the floor and then again around the room before turning to me. "I killed him." I closed the space between us and grabbed his arm, looking him in the eye.

"Who, Jayden? Who did you kill?" I practically hissed at him. He looked down at me, his eyes full of fear and shame.

"Your father. I killed your father."

* * *

**Ok, I'm trying very hard to resist the evil laugh here, so I'm only gonna say one thing.**

**REVIEW PLEASE! I'm begging you. (I know a song called that too! ;)**

**REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"You're lying to me! Everything you've told me about yourself has been a lie!" I shouted back at him, but he only gave me a mournful look.

"Nine days ago, two days after I arrived, I discovered that a human had been involved in the Demon's work. After tracking some Demons, and finding a man with them, I killed the Demons and followed the man home, where I searched his house to confirm it and then… slit his throat." Jayden explained cautiously. My breathing pattern increased and I pointed a finger at the front door.

"Get out." I told him. He begged me with his eyes. "No one tells me that my father was working with Demons. Get out!" He got up and slowly began making his way towards the door, but then stopped and said one last thing.

"Your Mother was killed for the very same reason." He whispered, and then turned and walked calmly out the door. I waited until I knew he had driven away before pounding up the stairs and throwing myself on my bed, sobbing.

Sobbing, because I didn't want to believe him. Sobbing for the death of my _innocent _father. Sobbing for the loss of my best friend.

Sobbing because I knew Jayden wasn't making up the story.

_Jayden _did _kill him. This I know for a fact, now. But, I don't know whether my dad really was working for the Demons. Maybe Jayden had false information on both of my parents, and they were both innocent._

_ Or maybe they weren't._

Dreadful thoughts flew through my head as I wept, for two hours straight, crying myself to sleep.

The next day wasn't any better. I woke up feeling horrible at around eleven, and then called the Whites to tell them I wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to make it to work. Clarissa wanted to come over and check on me, but I told her my dad had handled it and I just had a slight cold.

Mentioning my dad brought the tears all over again, though. I cried for another four hours, memories flooding back of both him and my mother.

And oddly, Jayden too. It was like I still cared for him, despite what he'd put me through. But I knew I couldn't care for him, _wouldn't _care for him, even if only for my parent's sake.

I would never see Jayden again.

This realization was definitely enough to stop me from going to the one place I would _have_ to see him; school. Both on Monday and Tuesday I stayed home from school and work, and when the administration called, I put on a low voice and pretended to be my father.

During the day I didn't do much, mainly sat around and stared out the window as neighbors walked by. At night, when all of my thoughts were shouting in my head because of the silent house, I wept until exhaustion took over and I fell asleep.

Wednesday came, but I still didn't feel well enough for school. Instead, I took a shower and then went for a walk around the neighborhood, not caring who saw me and wondered why I wasn't at school. When I made it to the park, I sat in the shade on the playground for twenty minutes, listening to the sound of the wind.

When I realized it was almost about the time the high school would get out, I hurried home so no one would see me.

I had been home for about ten minutes when the doorbell rang. I ran upstairs to look out my window to see who it was, and as soon as I glimpsed the bright red mane of hair, I knew it was Clarissa.

I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to anyone, not even my best friend, but at least I didn't look like crap. She was waiting patiently outside, as if she knew I was home but was hesitating to answer the door.

I was reaching for the handle when the doorbell rang again, her impatience catching up to her. I sighed and pulled it open, throwing on a fake smile for her. "Hey!" I added, sounding both cheery and eerie at the same time.

She didn't fall for it. There were some cons to having a best friend, I suppose. "Shut it, Elina. I know something's up." She scolded me as she pushed past me and into my house.

Surprisingly, she still had her backpack on. More surprisingly, Grant wasn't sitting in the car on my driveway. _She really is concerned for me! _I thought, though I wasn't particularly glad about it.

"I brought your homework from Monday, Tuesday, and today." She told me, pulling out a large stack of work from her backpack and dropping it on my kitchen table. I frowned, knowing this work would never get done, but thankful she'd brought it over anyway.

"Thanks." I muttered under my breath, grabbing two cans of Ginger Ale—the drink we always had when we were together—from my fridge. I sat at the opposite end of the table she was at and slid her can over to her.

"What's up?" I asked casually. She glared at me, and pulled out another two pieces of paper from her backpack, tossing them to me.

"I'm not here to kid, Lina." I winced as she used my father's old nickname for me.

"Obviously not. No child would specially deliver their friend's _homework_ to her house when it's obvious she's has been—and still is—sick and unable to complete it." I retorted in a ruder tone than I'd intended.

"I don't want your crap." I raised my eyebrows, and she continued. "Jayden gave me those." She motioned to the papers in my hand I hadn't bothered to look at.

_Jayden. _His name reverberated back and forth in my head. I tried to shake it out, but when I couldn't I asked her more about it. "So he's been at school?"

Clarissa shook her head. "No. He met me in the parking lot after school yesterday and told me that if I didn't give this to you as soon as possible he'd personally have my head cut off." I had to believe her. That did sound like something he would say.

And it did make me feel a little better that he hadn't been attending school either. At least I wasn't overreacting.

Finally, I looked down to read the notes. The first one was short and sweet.

_Elina,_

_ Please think about forgiving me and allow me to explain tomorrow afternoon in the park at noon._

_ -Jayden_

I shuddered when I realized how close I'd been to actually meeting him there on accident. There was no way in hell I'd be forgiving him. I almost didn't want to read the second note.

But when I saw how much he'd written, I couldn't bear not knowing what he had to say. I sighed and began.

_Dear Elina,_

_ Let me start by saying that I really care about you. You were the first person I ever allowed into my world and I'd prefer it if I could keep you in it as long as possible. As for Saturday night, I'm exceedingly sorry. I'll say it one million times if I have to._

_ I had no right to make that kind of assumption, about either of your parents. I know how upset that made you, and I can only hope that mentioning I am in a very similar situation to yours will make you feel better and bring you closer to me._

_ I would also like to help you do a little bit of research to enhance your knowledge of your background and ancestry. Your family, as well as mine, possess many secrets and abilities that you may be unaware of. I encourage you to do this on your own if you do not want my assistance._

_ On another matter, I would like to thank you for befriending me when no one else in town would. Your welcome and kind behavior are part of the reason I have lasted so long in this small town. _

_ I am sorrowful to add that my job here is only getting worse. Every night I work there seems to be more to handle than the night before. I have never encountered such a problem in my occupation. It is likely that I will need to bring in a few family members to help me complete my task._

_ Lastly, I am going to beg for your forgiveness. You are such an important aspect of my life, and I am a selfish fool to say that I am not ready to let you go. But I am an honest fool. Our time together has just begun and I plead that this infraction on my part not be the termination of that time. I insist that you not take my pleas lightly, as I would rather you make a wise decision than a biased one. _

_ My thanks, pleas, and guidance given only to you—_

_ Cyprianus Jayden Amadeus Tryforce_

I stared in utter disbelief at the note for minutes straight. _Jayden wrote _this? _Why is he trying so hard to have me forgive him? _

Clarissa noticed I was done reading and snatched the note back out my hand, beginning to read it when I didn't stop her. Her jaw dropped to the floor, but I barely noticed.

"Are you two-?" She whispered, raising her eyebrow suspiciously.

"No. We're not. In fact, I'm pissed at him right now. He's just trying _extremely _hard to gain my approval of him again." I answered curtly.

She rolled her eyes at me, "_Because _he wants you to be more than friends."

I had to think about this for a while. _He has made it quite obvious that if we were to continue hanging out, he'd expect it to be as more than friends. But, why would he want to have _anything_ to do with me? He could easily be considered twice as good-looking, intelligent, and dateable than me. _

I sighed a deep breath of something quite the opposite of relief, internal conflict.

"Hey, shouldn't your dad be home from work by now?" My head whipped up at her, immediately taking the defensive.

"Why?" I snapped.

She frowned, "Just… wondering. Sorry." I heard her mutter. My pencil tip broke off as I pressed it hard against the table. Clarissa noticed but didn't say anything about it.

I got started on my math homework, with a new utensil, and was immediately frustrated after the first problem.

I picked up my binder and threw it on the floor in disgust. This time, Clarissa commented.

"Elina… what's wrong?" She hesitated. I directed my glare in her direction, and she stepped back.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" I all but screeched. "I'll tell you what's wrong. My best friend is off smooching with her new hot boyfriend all of the time, my family is now non-existent, my only friend is the new kid at school, and I am now forced to live meal by meal and work to pay for every cent this damn house costs!"

She stared at me in silent pity and confusion for what seemed like eternity. I waited until my fuming and heart rate slowed down before explaining in full detail.

"There's no easy way to put this, so here it is." Taking a deep breath, I blurted, "I found him dead on the living room floor a week and a half ago. Since then, I've been fending for myself and watching you slip away from me to be with Grant. Then, I encounter the biggest jerk the teenage world has ever met, sitting in my seat. He teases me and insults me and leads me on all at the same time, and we end up going out to dinner. He continues to do all three, and gives the impression that he may be stalking me, before opening his soul and telling me every one of his deep, dark secrets. Finally, as I'm beginning to fall for him, he comes to my home and tells me that he killed my father. _Killed _my father. So I'm forced to play sick just to avoid him, and then he sends me possible the most unobvious love letter the world has ever seen."

I took another deep breath, proud that I got it all out, but horrified as I watched her take it all in.

"Jayden killed your father?" She breathed, and I nodded. "Do I even want to know why?"

_Why. _I realized that I finally believed that Jayden had been telling me the truth. Of course, I wouldn't tell Clarissa the real reason, but I was forced to admit to myself that I no longer had any reason to be mad at him.

"It's a long story." Her face fell, but she didn't protest. "Clarissa, I kind of want some time to think, if that's ok. Thanks for bringing over the homework, I really appreciate it." I gave her a firm hug and she nodded and headed towards the door.

"I hope you feel better, Elina." She added a wink and shut the door behind her.

I collapsed onto the couch, and then the tears began to fall, the reality of my situation fully sinking into me. Hugging my knees to my chest, I replayed every second of every day for the past two weeks in my head and wondered how my life could possibly go from extraordinarily normal to exceedingly out of control.

Silently I wept on the couch, choking back sobs and fears. Fears for the future, the past, and most definitely the present. How was I going to handle my father's death without being whisked away into Social Securities? How was I going to handle Jayden and his Demons? How am I going to handle college and life with no money to support me?

I had no answer whatsoever to any of these questions, and I was way too exhausted to attempt figuring any of them out.

I was finally calming down when there was a knock on the door. My first thought had me running to hide under my bed: What if that's the police and Clarissa told them my story? But there were no flashing lights and no one yelling to 'open the door because we have a search warrant'.

Just to be sure it wasn't someone important, I peeked through the curtains covering the front window, and almost fainted.

_Jayden. What the hell is he doing on my doorstep? _I glanced at the clock and realized it was almost six o'clock and the sun was already behind the houses across the street. _Wow. Time flies fast when you're sobbing. _

Stomping my foot in frustration, I crossed the house on my hands and knees so he wouldn't see me, but I heard his voice when I was right in front of the door.

"Elina, please. I'm truly, and honestly sorry. I want to talk to you. Please." He pleaded through the front door, and his voice was calm and gentle even though I knew he was yelling to be heard.

I grunted and turned away from the door. "Elina, don't make me pick this lock." The tension in his voice grew.

I sighed and stood up, running up the stairs to my room so he would have a harder time finding me once he got in.

I sat on my bed facing away from the door and hugged my knees to my chest again. I heard him open the front door, but after that it was completely silent.

I knew he knew that I was somewhat ok with him being in my house, because he wouldn't come in unless I was alright with him being there. A single tear fell down my face, and I cursed myself for having overacting emotions.

I felt his strong hand on my arm and jumped, not having heard him enter my room. "Elina." He whispered, and I shrugged his hand off of me.

"Don't do this to me, Jayden. I can't—not after what you did." I told him.

He responded by wrapping his arms around me and pulling me onto his lap on my bed in a friendly embrace. Gently, he wiped the tear from my cheek and I looked into his concerned eyes.

I was surprised when he didn't begin with denying it, "I know. I'm sorry, I should never have, not even under the circumstances."

He held my face to his chest and ran his hand through my tangled hair, "I can't believe he did that." I murmured, and he took my hand and played with my fingers.

"They are a powerful species. It might not have even been under his free will that he assisted them." He paused, "If you can forgive me and your parents, then I can forgive them as well."

I sighed and leaned away from him so I could watch his face carefully, "How can you forgive them for doing such horrible things?"

He didn't react immediately, but he did close his eyes and brood silently for a moment, "Everyone deserves forgiveness."

I frowned at this, not wondering why he would choose to say that. "Why do you want my company anyway? I'm a fragile, boring human. At least find somewhere out there prettier than me."

He opened his eyes, and I was momentarily lost in their blue depths. "Impossible," he mused, but I grunted and ignored that comment.

"Elina, I know this is a lot to ask, and I in _no _way deserve your acceptance or loyalty, but please, I can't lose you." He dropped my hand and begged with his eyes.

"Jayden, we've known each other for little more than a week." _And yet, I feel the same way. _My mind whispered to me.

"I don't know how I fell in love with you so fast." His voice lost its pleading and dropped two octaves so he sounded serious and romantic. My eyes widened and I gazed up at him in bewilderment.

But somehow, after hearing this, he became more sure of himself. "Elina, I love you." He whispered, but his voice was steady.

I felt his lips on mine before I could truly process what was going on. Murmuring a little in satisfaction, I sat up straighter and leaned into him, causing him to pull me on his lap. I wrapped my arms around his broad back and he rested one hand lightly on my waist and the other deep in my hair.

Regretfully, I pulled back and gazed into his gleaming eyes confidently. "I love you too, Jayden Tryforce." He beamed and kissed me again; afterwards I rested my head on his shoulder and we sat there like that for a while.

Eventually, I grew tired of the silence, "What did he do for _them_?" I asked innocently, but he seemed unwilling to answer.

Finally, he kissed my forehead lightly and replied, "Nothing of major importance. Most humans who work with them take on the social aspect of the work and do a lot of persuading to change subjects from unknown species to mass murderers. They make it easier for them to stay hidden and a lot of the time are forced to do it under fear for their own life."

"What about my mother? Were they both being threatened?" I asked him again, twirling part of his shirt with my finger.

"I imagine so. There's no way to know for sure, but it may have had something to do with protecting a loved one or friend, like you." I shuddered at the thought and he pulled me closer. "You remember that our mother's were buried right next to each other?"

I nodded, confused.

"My mother was killed by the same demons that your mother was unwillingly assisting. They knew she was affiliated with us Demon Hunters and after my father killed your mother, they weren't after her as revenge." He whispered solemnly.

"Oh my god." I muttered, horrified. "That's terrible. You grew up with that kind of a responsibility and threat?" I asked him.

Nodding, he added, "So did you." And I realized he was right. My life hadn't been any easier than his from that point on. We were such a perfect couple, so mismatched in our haunting pasts and grueling presents.

"How is your work going now?" I asked, nuzzling against him. He tugged at my shirt playfully, but his face fell in anger.

"Not well. I'm beginning to suspect that this may be the headquarters for all of their operations, or something else that may cause the biggest gathering that I've ever heard of. Their numbers reach higher than five hundred in this area alone, sadly." He paused and began twirling a strand of my hair, "I talked to Castor and Hector yesterday, and if it gets any worse they said they'll come up and check things out."

I frowned upon hearing this, not sure meeting two of Jayden's older and even more intimidating brothers was on the top of my Bucket List. He chuckled at my expression and kissed my cheek.

"Don't worry, they'll be nice. It's Mariana I'm worried about." I gave him a confused glance, but he shook his head, insisting that I not give it a second thought.

His stomach growled, interrupting our staring contest, and I stood up, pulling him up with me. "Come on, I'll go make you some dinner."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! I'm back from China(actually I was when I posted chapter six but I forgot to add an AN at the beginning)**

**Anyway, I hope you like the story so far! Things are getting more serious, but I'm running out of chapters that I'd previously done so it'll probably start being longer between updates..**

**I know, I'm sorry. You probably hate me.**

**But I'm so busy with everything(VBS, and then I'm going to GA for a few days but it won't affect anything)**

**And then school starts back up and that'll make it MUCH worse.**

**But I promise I'll do my best. :)**

**REVIEW!**

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Chapter Seven

Later that night, I curled up in his arms of the sofa. They reminded me of how strong my father's had been holding me when I was a little girl. I lay my head on his chest, and he pushed a strand of my hair off my face so he could caress my cheek gently.

The room was silent, but the air was not empty. We communicated through motions and there was no need for words. His sweet, masculine smell wafted in and out of my nose as I took long, deep breaths. He placed his lips on my hair and rested them there.

We sat there endlessly, content holding each other. Finally, his careful breathing caught, and he moved his hand from my cheek to lift my chin up. I saw the love in his eyes, but there was more to it than that. His eyes were like a never-ending tunnel of happiness. Though they stayed steady looking into my eyes now, I knew that if they flickered one way or another the beauty in them would not change.

But the beauty in his eyes could not compare to the beauty in his soul. I felt his calm, yet wise; strong, but gentle soul as his lips formed around mine, a soft kiss. Despite the fact that this kiss was only one of many, something about it made it seem more sophisticated than the rest.

Perhaps because it brought with it a sense of absolute rightness. Perhaps because his hands held me tighter that ever before. Perhaps because our bodies were curved perfectly together.

It was that moment that I knew I would never stop loving him.

"I love you," I whispered against his lips, another time. Instead of getting old, the three words felt more reassuring and powerful every time either of us whispered them.

We fell asleep that night on the couch, not bothering to move up to my room. In the morning, he was watching me with curious eyes when I woke.

I smiled and leaned up to kiss him, glancing over his shoulder at the time. It was 9:13, almost two hours after school started. He noticed my worried expression and shrugged it off.

"We'll go on a hike instead," He murmured, and my heart began to race in anticipation. "We'll take the rest of the week off, to spend time together." He added.

"That would be marvelous." I told him, standing up and stretching. "Just let me go change." He nodded, and I pecked his cheek before hurrying upstairs.

When I was making my way back downstairs(after changing into a deep purple long sleeve shirt and cute grey sweatpants—it was still a little cold outside, but the snow had melted) I tripped on my untied shoelace, and tumbled down the last few steps. Luckily, Jayden had been making his way around the corner and saw me in time to catch me.

Laughing, I regained my footing and looked up at him, waiting for him to let go of me. He laughed with me for a second and then muttered, "Leave it to me to fall in love with the clumsiest girl on the planet."

I frowned and smacked his chest playfully, "Hey! I take offense to that, you know."

He smirked and leaned down to kiss me, and I gave in and leaned into him, kissing him back. He pulled back slightly, just far enough to murmur, "You know, we only have so much sunlight left in the day."

"Oh?" I answered, teasingly. He frowned down at me.

"_Yes. _And I really do want to take a hike, you know."

I gave him an odd look, "It's only 9:30. We have, like ten hours of sunlight left."

He smirked, realizing why we were having this argument, "Well, I'm flattered that you'd rather stay here and do _that, _but there's plenty of space in the forest."

I laughed at his comment and went to grab my backpack that I'd packed with lunch and safety precautions. "Well then, Mr. Stubborn, I guess we'd better get going now, if we want to find someplace flat to eat lunch."

I opened the back door and walked outside without turning to make sure he was following me. After a few steps, I felt the backpack being lifted off my shoulders, and I turned back to him with narrowed eyes. "I can carry it myself."

"It's not a question of whether you're able or not, it's a question of whether you're comfortable or not. And, no offense, but I do happen to be somewhere around twenty times stronger than you."

"Twenty times? Is someone just a tad bit full of themselves?" I shouted back at him as I began to jog into the forest, and he followed at a brisk pace.

"I thought we were going for a hike, not a run." He complained, not bothering to respond to my first comment.

"Tired already?"

"Hardly." He muttered, grinning, "But if you want to race…"

I raised my eyebrows. "Race?" I paused, "How far?" I slowed down and walked until I was even with him so that we could discuss this 'race'.

He stared ahead with his eyebrows furrowed. "You see that tree with two large branches sticking out either way?" I frowned, seeing no such tree despite the fact that I was squinting.

"No."

He turned back to me, smirking rather proudly, "Oh, that's right. You're human." I scrunched my nose, and hit his arm, not bothering to hold back my strength. "Ow!" He exclaimed, but the expression on his face told me that it hadn't hurt him at all and he was playing along so I wouldn't be mad.

I frowned even more upon noticing that. "Well, you'll see it when we get closer." I sighed, nodding, "Ready?"

"I'm starting to doubt this is even necessary." I muttered, but he could hear it.

"Of course it is. I need more than a few reasons to boast." He smirked, and I glared at him. He ignored it and began counting down, "3…2…1…go!" He shouted, shooting out like a bullet, and he was already ten feet ahead of me when I started my sprint.

I ran a fast as I could, seriously. I was probably going faster than I'd ever run before actually, yet he was still extending his lead. Every few seconds he turned around to make sure I was a safe distance behind him, and eventually he slowed down until he was only a step ahead of me.

Grunting, I pushed myself just a little further to become even with him, but unsurprisingly, he noticed and sped back up. Glancing up, I noticed the tree he'd been talking about earlier barely fifty feet ahead of me.

My legs were burning now. I wasn't sure if I could keep up this speed until we reached the tree, but I was determined to try.

And at the same time, Jayden was determined to make me feel bad. I'd known from the start that he could easily outrun me, but I'd expected him to make this race a little fair.

Apparently, I'd expected too much of him. His eyes teased me when he turned around to look at me. My anger towards him continued to grow with every glance, and my eyes were challenging him to make me madder.

When I looked up again, the tree was only ten feet ahead, and I bristled as I pushed my legs to get even with Jayden as we crossed the finish line.

Even though I knew he hadn't been running his fastest, I took great pride in the fact that I caught him off guard and made it a tie. Smirking brightly, I slowed to a stop and stood with my arms crossed over my chest as I watched him take me in curiously.

"You run a hard bargain, Ms. Mckenzie." He noted cautiously, his eyes twinkling in amusement. I laughed musically and rolled my eyes, turning away from him and ambling further into the forest.

I felt his large hand on my shoulder, just as I'd expected, and waited to hear what else he had to say. "You run a hard bargain, and I respect you for that." He began, "You're the first person who's ever even came close to beating me in a foot race. I'm the fastest of my brothers."

I shrugged off his hand, pivoting to face him. "The only reason we tied is because you decided to tease me and stay only a step ahead of me when you could've finished fifteen feet ahead of me." I squinted in the sun that was shining through the trees, but I could still pick out his bright blue eyes.

He stared back down at me, more emotion in his eyes than could ever be expressed in words. "I tease you because I love you," He murmured, his hand caressing my cheek gently, and he leaned down to kiss me gently. He pulled back far enough to add, "And I would've beaten you by _much _more than fifteen feet."

I raised an eyebrow curiously, "Just how fast can you run?"

He shrugged, removing his hand from my cheek and taking my hand instead, "I guess I'll have to show you sometime."

"Now?" I asked hopefully. He watched me intently for a moment, but finally gave in.

"If you want." He told me as his eyes searched over my shoulder around the forest. He glanced back down at me, "Stay right here; don't move." He commanded me, and I nodded, watching him make his way slowly back to where he'd dropped the backpack.

I watched him imploringly, wondering what he was going to do. Shocking me, he pulled his shirt up over his head, and lay it on top of the backpack. I didn't ask what he was doing, even though it was very cold out here and he had to be freezing by now.

I couldn't have asked, even if I wanted to, though. I was speechless, staring in awe at his perfectly carved back. _His back¸_ I thought. _You can tell he's extremely muscular just by looking at his _back. I couldn't have ever prepared myself for the view when he turned to face me.

He noticed I was staring, but I didn't care. He had broad shoulders, and a defined collarbone. His lightly tanned skin was perfectly sculpted from his neck to his waist, his muscles huge and rippling, but not in an extremely terrifying way. His arms were also like a masterpiece, every inch showing off how strong he was without being overwhelming.

Well, it _was _overwhelming, but only because he was so _beautiful. _I couldn't help also noticing that he had not a six-pack, but an eight-pack. _An eight-pack. _

He was still moving closer to me, smiling as I ogled him. I shook my head slightly, waking me from my daze. "How come I've never seen you without a shirt on?" I muttered, running my hands down his chest when he was within reaching distance.

He laughed, kissing my forehead and hugging me close to him. "I didn't realize you would react this way." He whispered into my hair.

"How could I not?" I traced one of the curves on his stomach, causing him to shiver slightly, "You're beautiful."

He laughed again, "Well, that's not exactly what a guy wants to hear, but I'll take it."

"How did you get like this?" I asked, looking up at his just-as-beautiful face. Well, handsome at least.

"One of the advantages of being a Demon Hunter." He said, shrugging. "Be right back." He added, smiling and stepping away from me with a playful look on his face. He was a blur as he ran off, and after a few seconds he was out of my sight and I had no idea where he was.

Just four seconds later, I felt his arms slip around me from behind. "Jayden!" I exclaimed, surprised. He smiled, not even breathing heavy when he leaned in and kissed the top of my ear. He raised a beautiful, long stemmed rose up to my nose and I inhaled its smell deeply. "It's beautiful, where did you find it?"

"There's a rose bush about three hundred feet in that direction." He pointed, and I frowned.

"Y-you ran six hundred feet and picked a rose in seven seconds?" I stuttered, flabbergasted by this information.

"Now do you believe I would've beaten you by more than fifteen feet?" He asked, releasing all but my hand and began walking deeper into the forest, the backpack already on his back.

"_And _got the backpack?" I asked in pure astonishment.

He grinned down at me, "It's one of the necessary skills a Demon Hunter possesses."

"Yeah, one you definitely overuse." I muttered, still taking in all of this new information.

We walked for about another half hour, chatting quietly about each other's pasts and getting to know each other as best as we could, before we finally entered a large, flat, clearing.

Jayden beamed, dragging me into the middle and laying out an entire picnic before plopping me down onto the blanket beside him.

"This is… perfect." I whispered, scanning over the food he'd packed earlier. "You didn't even tell me about half of this stuff."

"I wanted it to be a surprise," he murmured, taking my hand and pressing it to his lips. I blushed, leaning into him and resting my head on his shoulder.

"I love surprises." He slipped his arms underneath me and scooped me into his lap. I suppressed the urge to giggle and breathed in his smell. He leaned forward to grab a grape and popped it into my mouth.

We ate the entire lunch he'd packed, and then were about to get up and begin walking, when Jayden tensed and pushed me behind him.

"What's wrong?" I whispered into his ear, but he put a finger over my mouth to shush me.

"Demons," he muttered, "Hold on." He swung me onto his back and jumped up, landing a high branch of a nearby tree and climbing up a few more before leaving me with the backpack on one of them. "Don't move, I'll be right back." He leapt down from the tree and I watched him complete a series of motions that made him look crazy.

He was fighting an invisible opponent._ Many _invisible opponents. And he was winning. Although he looked as if he was practicing karate, I knew better than to think that.

From the amount of time it took him to stop and the way he moved, my guess was that there were about six demons attacking. I could tell how small they were by his movements, but they definitely seemed small but deadly.

Instead of concentrating on the demons, though, I marveled at Jayden's strength. His muscles rippled as he fought, and sweat glistened on his chest when the sun streamed through the trees I was situated in.

I knew my love for him was true. For how could I not love such a perfect, heart-wrenching being with an irrevocable love for me in return? No, my love was not a fantasy.

But the depths of my mind wanted me to believe that, though my love was real, perhaps _he _was not. He, who stormed into my life in the midst of the biggest disaster of my life. He, who was the first to befriend me and make his way close to my heart. He, who knows my deepest, darkest secrets.

He, who's the cause of my deepest, darkest crisis.

Lyrics from a familiar song popped into my head while I pondered this. _Was he a ghost? Was he a lie? That made my body, laugh and cry. Then by my side, the proof I see. His little one, gods of the sun, bring him to me. _Miss Saigon. The story of a Vietnamese orphan who sells herself to an American marine, falls in love with him, and then is left with only his son as proof that he even existed.

But what was my proof? The fact that my father really is dead? No, although Jayden says he was behind it, anyone could have been. Maybe then the fact that he's standing right beneath me, acting as if he's fighting off many off his claimed enemies? But if I'm questioning his reality, then I too am questioning his human—or inhuman—body.

So then there's really no excuse to deny the fact that he is real.

And just as he is real, he is mine.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok, so this will probably be my last post until next Monday, because I'm going to visit family in Georgia until Sunday.**

**I'll probably write more while I'm gone, but right now I'm at Chapter Ten, and there won't be to much more than that.**

**I'm think there'll probably somewhere around 15-18 chapters.**

**It depends on how things go, but it's looking pretty good right now!**

**Anyway, I'd REALLY appreciate it if you would review.**

**Really.**

**Ideas are ALWAYS helpful.**

**:)**

* * *

Chapter Eight

Soon after my realization, Jayden stopped bouncing around on the ground, out of breath but unharmed.

"Are the demons taken care of?" I yelled down to him, though I knew raising my voice was unnecessary. I could make out a slight movement of his head, and then he disappeared from my view, and less than two seconds later I felt him arms slip around my waist.

"Every last one of them." He murmured, kissing my neck softly.

"My hero!" I exclaimed, faking innocence as I leaned up to give him a real kiss. He laughed softly against my lips and picked me up so we could drop to the ground, all the while still kissing.

It was quite a feat, actually, to have accomplished such a task without getting either of us killed, but I suppose those are the pros to having a supernatural boyfriend.

Finally, he pulled back ever so slightly, still resting his head on my forehead. "I love you, Jayden." I reminded him, and he responded by pulling me onto his lap.

A snowflake landed on his nose, and I laughed, licking it off with my tongue and ravishing in the last tastes winter would bring.

"Jayden, what's today's date?" I whispered softly, silently contemplating to myself.

"March 24th."

I sighed somewhat dramatically, and he gave me an odd look, waiting for me to explain myself. "Today was my mother's birthday."

He murmured an apology, kissing the top of my head and I continued thinking. "My birthday is in a month and a half." He raised his eyebrows, "May 9th." I elaborated, and he nodded.

"And what is special about this May 9th, Ms. Elina Rebecca Mckenzie?" He asked, playing along.

"It is the day I become a fully, responsible adult." I answered with satisfaction. _The day I get to stop hiding,_I added in my head.

He kissed me again, to celebrate I suppose, but he pulled back soon and glanced around the forest we were sitting in. "I really should take you home. You're going to get sick if you stay out any longer." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up so I was standing.

I protested by digging my feet into the ground and refusing to move. Not the most mature thing I've done, but hey, it would've been effective had my boyfriend not been super strong.

Instead, he just gave me an amused look and threw me over his shoulder—gently, I might add—and started running in a direction I could only hope led to my house.

I had to close my eyes, or I would've been sick two seconds after he started moving. I let out a sort of grunt and smacked his butt in an attempt to make him stop, but I only succeeded in making him slow down a little bit.

The good thing about his speed was the fact that we were back at my house in less than a minute. When he put me down, I shot him a glare and stomped into the house, but I knew he knew I wasn't mad at him and I was aware of the fact that he was only two steps behind me.

That didn't stop me from pretending like he wasn't there though. I spent the first four minutes after I got back inside making _one _cup of hot chocolate and getting _one _blanket from the closet and settling down on the couch to turn on my favorite movie, something I was positive he didn't like.

I had to give it to him, he didn't complain or make any noise once, and after my bitch act was done, he just silently sat down on the couch close to me, without touching me, and faked interest in what I was watching.

God, he was too perfect for his own good. I'd made it through thirty seconds of the movie before my guilt caught up to me and I had to apologize. I pressed paused on the remote and turned to face him.

"Sorry," I muttered under my breath, "My head hasn't caught up to the rest of my body yet, I really shouldn't be treating you so horribly."

He cupped his hand under my chin and raised my face so I was staring him in the eye, "It was my fault, I shouldn't have gone so fast while I had you. Now, if you don't mind, I'm sure I can keep you much warmer than that old blanket can." He raised his eyebrows, and I nodded, giving him permission to curl me up into his lap.

"Do you want to watch something else…?" I asked quietly, starting to get up to look for a better movie, but he pulled me back down.

"I'm happy as long as you're happy."

Two hours later the movie was over, and we were left without anything to do. It was almost dinner time, so I asked Jayden what he wanted to do to eat.

"We could go back to my house. I have a lot of food in my pantry—"

"And a lot more of pretty much everything else, I know." I interrupted him, and sarcastic and teasing tone in my voice to let him know I was joking. "I could pack some of my stuff and stay the night there, it that's ok." I added quietly.

He nodded and hugged me, planting a wet kiss on my forehead and then on my lips. "Of course that's ok. You're always welcome at my house."

I climbed out of his arms and made my way around the counter, "Can we leave now? Being in this house unnerves me." He nodded and I hurried to my room to pack pajamas, a change of clothes, and the toiletries I would need for a night.

He wasn't in the kitchen when I made my way downstairs. Instead, I found him in my father's study, staring cautiously at his things.

"Jayden." I whispered, and he turned around to look at me, not surprised I was there. He probably heard my footsteps. "What are you doing?"

He frowned, stepping over a stack of papers on the floor to come stand in front of me, holding my elbow and looking me in the eyes. "I wanted to look around—if that's ok with you. I-I might find something that would help." He responded, a pleading look in his eyes.

I nodded, moving my arm out of his grasp and muttering, "I'll just go find something to eat." I was surprised my voice wasn't laced with disappointment or pain. Seeing Jayden in my father's study had brought the reality of my world crashing down upon me, after a day of pure bliss with the person I love.

Of course Jayden might find something that he could use to destroy the demons that my father was working for in his study. Why hadn't I thought of it sooner?

_Maybe because you haven't accepted it yet. _Of course I hadn't accepted it. I probably never would. But could I continue to hide facts from Jayden that would only make my problems resolve themselves faster?

Better yet, _why_ would I want to hide the solutions from him? The sooner these demons are gone, the sooner I get my happy ever after ending.

Said Cinderella.

If only life were as simple as the fairy tales put it. There would be no wars, no suffering, no pain. If only happiness was based on a shoe size.

If only true love had no cost.

My true love certainly came with a cost. A rather large one, I might venture to say. Though Jayden was perhaps the most perfect being that ever walked this earth, he was also dangerous and involved with many dangerous things.

He was also not human. Now how am I supposed to deal with an inhuman boyfriend; one who is stronger than the wildest waves, faster than the fiercest winds and smarter than Mother Nature herself?

By sucking it up and accepting it. I laughed quietly to myself, grabbing a bagel to eat real fast and sitting down at the kitchen table to wait for Jayden.

He came out less than ten seconds later. I asked him if he found anything, but he just gave me a sincere look and ripped a piece off of my bagel for himself.

"Hey!" I called, hitting his arm in an attempt to ease the tension in the atmosphere. He smiled, but it looked forced.

"You ready?" He asked, taking my hand and helping me out of the chair and pushing it in behind me. I nodded, grabbing my car keys from the counter.

Jayden grinned and put them back for me. "I'm driving." I shot him a look, but he just shrugged and grabbed one of my jackets that was hanging on a chair and carried it out to the driveway with him.

Grunting, I shivered and slid into the passenger seat of his nasty red van. He smirked and handed me my jacket, which I accepted—but only because I was cold. Realizing I'd left my backpack of stuff inside the house, I moved to go get it, but Jayden reached a hand over and grabbed my arm, stopping me and showing me that he'd grabbed that as well.

How I hated myself for loving his face when he smirked at me, and let me tell you, that was often. He backed out onto the street and proceeded to his mansion of a house thirty miles over the speed limit.

I wasn't complaining. Whatever got me away from that house the fastest was fine with me. He turned on the radio, which ironically was playing Journey's _Don't Stop Believin'. _Deciding that all of the dignity I had around Jayden was long gone, I sang along loudly.

Jayden certainly found this amusing. But I don't think he was nearly as amused as I was when he started singing too.

Singing is _not _one of the talents a Demon Hunter possesses, that's for sure. I wasn't any better though. We were cracking up when we reached his house, and I was glad to say the tension in the air had definitely been relieved.

We ate a small dinner that we enjoyed preparing together, and then he set the television to a news station to listen to in the background as we sat down and played a few card games.

After a few hours, at around nine, Jayden tensed and stood up, knocking his chair over in the process.

"I forgot to run a patrol around town this afternoon." He muttered to himself, restraining himself from breaking the chair, slamming his fist down softly on the table instead. "Damn it."

He turned his angry eyes to me, and they immediately softened. "I'm sorry Lin." He apologized, moving around the table and kneeling down beside the chair I was in. "This is really important though. I told you things have been getting worse, and I can't afford to miss one of my patrols now. I'll be back as soon as possible, alright?" He kissed my forehead gently, and then stood up so he could lean on the table.

"Promise me you won't leave the house." His eyes penetrated my soul with one look in their ferocity. "Promise me, Elina." I nodded quickly.

"I promise." I whispered. He let out a sigh of relief, and I stood up so I could kiss him on the lips.

Surprisingly, it was Jayden who deepened the kiss, not myself. His tongue brushed my bottom lip and I willingly grant it access.

But unsurprisingly, the kiss disappeared as fast as it had deepened when Jayden pulled away.

"I love you," I whispered, searching his eyes for any sign of fear, but they showed none.

"I love you too," He responded, "Be safe. Don't leave." I nodded, rolling my eyes inside my head—I knew Jayden would give me an entire lecture if I'd done it physically—and leaned in for another quick kiss.

"You too. Now go kick some Demon butt!" I added half-enthusiastically. He gave me a weary smile and disappeared out the front door, locking it behind him.

I settled down on the couch to watch some news, for the time being. It had been about ten minutes when I heard a scuffling behind me. Turning slowly, I stood up and walked into the kitchen, flipping the light switch on.

Unsurprisingly, there was nothing there. I figured it was my overactive imagination working up—especially since I was worrying about Jayden.

Then again, Jayden had said that Demons were invisible to humans. And I'm a human, could it possibly be…? Oh God, I hoped not.

I was making my way back to the couch when I heard another noise from the Dining Room now.

"Jayden?" I called softly, knowing it wasn't him and yet still hoping it was. There was no response to this.

Trying my best to hold my breath though it wanted to come out in rasps, I tiptoed down a hallway and into the nearest door I could find, closing and locking it behind me.

The noises from outside only got louder and nearer, and I could feel a body on the other side of the door, searching for a way in.

I knew it wouldn't be long before something knocked the door down, so I back away, looking for something in the room to hide in, but apparently I'd entered a completely unused room.

There was literally no piece of furniture to be seen. _There goes that idea. _I muttered inside my head.

Soon something began scratching the door, and I couldn't hold back my wheezing now.

_Demons are coming to get me. I can't see them, and they think I'm the prey. What had Jayden said they did to humans? Sucked out their souls? Lovely. Or did they just rip their prey apart and then feed on the souls?_

_ Somehow I prefer the first option. It's not like it's up to me though._

Finally the door burst open, and I felt a rush of air as well, _nothing_ piled in. But of course I knew it wasn't nothing. I could feel the inhuman, dirty souls surrounding me, and yet I couldn't see anything except an empty room.

Not knowing what else to do, I screamed, "Jayden!" as loud as I could, praying he was near.

Something gnarly touched my arm, and then another grabbed my leg. Their claws were sliding roughly up my skin, but I wasn't bleeding yet.

I could hear them now, their mangled growls as they anticipated the kill. The saliva dripping from their mouth that wasn't visible until it landed on my skin.

The sound of their curled toenails hitting the floor when they moved. Of course, I was making up the visible aspects, but I knew what humans were doing when they made those sounds and I really hoped that Demons didn't have abnormal body parts doing who-knows-what to me.

Finally, one of their claws dug in too deep on my shoulder, and blood rushed out. I knew they could smell it, because they all immediately stopped what they were doing and pushed to be the closest to the cut.

After the original shock, they all began tearing away at my skin, hoping for more of my blood and it wasn't long before my vision blurred and I sank to the ground.

The last thing I heard before I blacked out was a human cry.

* * *

**I really do apologize for the cliffhanger... but points like these always seem like a good place to end a chapter.**

**Anyway, review! :))**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, sorry it's been SO long everyone! I really do apologize!**

**I've just been so busy with everything, school activities are finally starting back up(I still have two more weeks before school though, thank GOD!)**

**So there's alot of things going on right now, but I promise(or at least hope) that it'll get better from now on...**

**Anyway, the more you review, the more motivation I have to post new chapters faster!**

**So I guess it's just up to you. :)**

* * *

Chapter Nine

I could hear the sound of someone talking before I could comprehend anything else. The next sense that came back to me was my feeling; I could feel a hand on my arm. Then I could taste the blood in my mouth, and smelled death in the air.

Finally, after a few agonizing minutes of helplessness, I opened my eyes to take in my surroundings.

A man was sitting beside where I was laying on a bed, his face distraught with worry and pain. No, not a man, _my _man. Jayden.

"Jayden." I forced out, my voice even less than a whisper. His eyes widened and he leaned close to me, his face automatically brighter.

"Elina." He whispered back, his hand enclosing around mine. "I thought I'd lost you."

"You can't get rid of me that easily." I whispered back, laughing even though it intensified the pain in my stomach. He grimaced slightly at my comment and the reaction to laughter my face took on, frowning.

"I'm so sorry, Elina. I don't know how they got past me." He kissed my hand and caressed it against his cheek. "I can't believe I let this happen, let them hurt you. I love you so much. I understand if you never want to talk to me or see me again, but I really am sorry." I stopped his rambling by putting a finger over his lips.

"Jayden, I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault. I do want to see you again, but I want you to answer this one question." I paused, waiting for his reaction, "Did the Demons come in wanting to kill you—or were they looking for me the whole time?"

He shook his head, looking down at the floor. "I don't know. They aren't supposed to be able to recognize that I'm the hunter who kills them, that's why I go to school, so I seem normal and don't stand out. I didn't think they knew who I was—until now.

"But it also could have been you. They might have waited for me to leave, and then came in for you because both of your parents betrayed them. Demons are intelligent, they remember. They're also extremely protective of each other." He answered, moving onto the bed beside me and draping an arm around my shoulders.

"So they have human minds?"

He thought about this for a moment, "Probably somewhere between a human and an intelligent animal. Their fighting tactics and skills are animal-like, while they're living and social skills are human based. They mate and live like humans, but their minds are switched during a fight and they lose most of their self control. That can be an advantage or a disadvantage to me and my family."

I took in this new information for a few minutes, and then decided it was time to change the subject. "So how serious are my injuries?"

He snorted, frowning and lifting my shirt to reveal my stomach. I gasped, horrified.

There were four dark bruises covering the entire front of my stomach, I assumed where my ribs were. Jayden ran his fingers over each one, lightly enough so that it didn't hurt me. "You have four broken ribs and they almost ruptured your stomach."

Then he lifted the blanket to show my arms, covered it deep cuts and lighter bruises. "Their nails aren't poisonous, but they do cut deep. Luckily enough none of them needed stitches."

He rolled up my torn pant leg to reveal almost untouched legs, aside from one place where a chunk of my knee was just gone. It was healed and wasn't even really red anymore, but there was a lot of skin missing.

And finally he leaned over to kiss the side of my head, "Your head got rattled up, but I don't think you have any concussions."

I sighed, sinking back into the bed, "So just a few cuts and bruises then?"

"Hardly. You won't be able to walk for another day of two. Before your ribs could heal in the wrong places, I… moved them back into place so we wouldn't have to go to the hospital."

"You performed surgery on me?" I said somewhat loudly, surprised and in disbelief.

"No, no. I just kind of pushed them. I hope I didn't hurt you worse." He answered quickly. I sighed in relief.

"Oh, that's better. So I guess this rules out any kind of fun we were planning on having during our break from school, huh?" I asked in a light tone.

"I suppose it does. I'm sorry, this was all my fault. I'm terrible for you. I should take you home…" His voice became serious and husky.

I guffawed in response to his statement, causing him to raise his eyebrows and glare at me. I had to refrain from slapping him. "Jayden, you need to stop that. I love you, end of story. I'm not leaving you, and you sure as hell better not leave me, alright? Now what good would taking me home do if I can't even walk myself?"

"I don't deserve you." He whispered, leaning in and kissing me briefly, his eyes now full of love instead of shame.

I rolled my eyes at him. "How long was I unconscious?" I asked after he pulled away and climbed up off of the bed.

"All night. It's ten in the morning right now."

"So it's Friday then?" He nodded, laughing softly. My stomach grumbled softly, signaling it was time for me to eat breakfast.

Attempting to pull myself up, I realized too late that I was temporarily immobilized and a sharp pain shot through my stomach. Jayden frowned and rushed to my side, helping to ease me back into a comfortable position.

"Be careful, love. I'll go make you some breakfast." He told me, kissing my forehead and hurrying into the kitchen.

I sighed, knowing it was going to be an extremely boring couple of days without being able to do much. Stretching as far as I could without further injuring myself, I reached to grab the remote on the table beside me.

"Jayden?" I called, since the kitchen was pretty close to the room I was in and he had inhuman hearing. "How does your television work?"

"I'll be there in a minute." He called back, and sure enough, less than a minute later he came in, handing me a cup of juice and putting the TV on a show he figured I would like.

"Thanks." I smiled at him, and he grinned back.

"Anytime."

The rest of the day, along with both Saturday and Sunday were long and boring. For the most part, Jayden and I sat in front of the TV or he'd carry me out to the living room to play a game or talk. On Saturday night he spent three hours reading the book _Hatchet _aloud to me, and by Sunday afternoon I was able to walk with his help.

Sunday night we were discussing whether or not we should go to school the next day.

"How would I get to all of my classes? What if I can't walk myself?" I argued back, unwilling to waste more of my time in a place where I learned absolutely nothing. I hadn't talked to Clarissa since Wednesday, and I didn't have anything important to tell her anyway, so I could accomplish nothing at school that I couldn't accomplish staying with Jayden.

"I could help you." He replied calmly, and I glared at him. "Elina, look, the teachers are probably starting to get suspicious since we were both absent _all week _last week. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Demons are acting up because of my absence too."

I frowned and crossed my arms across my chest, pouting. He sighed and gently pried my arms apart, kissing my protruding bottom lip softly. "I love you, you know that. I am going to keep you safe, so we are going to go to school tomorrow."

"Fine, under one condition." He raised his eyebrows, waiting. "Tonight, you complete all of the work that both you and I missed last week. I don't want to be behind in any of my classes."

I know I was being a brat, but I didn't care. If Jayden was going to get what he wanted, so was I.

"Deal. I'll go get started on that now." He said, pulling away from me and walking out of the living room.

"Wait!" I called, and he turned around slowly. I beckoned for him to come closer and gave him a soft kiss on his lips before letting him leave.

I fell asleep before I heard from Jayden again. I woke up in the morning with Jayden's arms around me, but he was still asleep. Glancing at the clock, I sighed with relief that it was only six o'clock and we still had plenty of time to get ready for school.

I sighed, leaning over and kissing Jayden's lips softly to wake him up. It took him a few seconds to respond, but when he did it was in an extremely excited way.

He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw me, "I could get used to waking up like that." He murmured, sitting up to kiss me again.

"Then it better go both ways." I replied confidently, standing up and stretching, wincing slightly at the pain in my ribs, though it had healed a lot during the night. He pulled me back down on his lap and kissed my head softly.

"Of course, my love. Anything the Queen demands." I rolled my eyes at him and pushed off of him once more.

"Well, the _Queen _demands a shower," I paused when I saw the look in his eyes, "alone." His face fell and I laughed softly, kissing him to make up for it. "She will allow for the Court Jester to accompany her there, if he wishes."

He jumped up and had me in his arms bridal style before I could comprehend what was going on completely. "Will this do?" I swallowed and nodded.

He smirked, walking towards the bathroom. "It seems the Queen has been dazzled by the almighty Jester."

I gave a small humph and crossed my arms across my chest. "The Queen is only dazzled by the Queen herself. No one is as good as, nor better, than the Queen." I grinned triumphantly in my mind, but my features showed a poker face.

"Ah, she is one of _those _Queens." He put on a French accent, "I presume she is not married, eh?"

"Of course not! She had many suitors back in the day, but she fancied none of them, and decided it'd be best to rule the world solely."

We had reached the bathroom at this point, and he set me on my feet, but continued to talk as he got the shower ready. "Not even the charming, young Court Jester?"

He turned on the water and turned back to me, resting his hand on my cheek. "The Queen would never have anything to do with a measly Court Jester. She wouldn't even marry the highest King of all."

He looked amused now, and he changed the fantasy when he spoke again. "Well then perhaps you are not like the Queen. Perhaps instead, you are a young, servant to her." I raised my eyebrows inquisitively at him and he continued, "A young servant passionately in love with the Court Jester."

"But what if the Court Jester did abnormal, dangerous stunts which made the young servant fear for his life?" I mused, "Then would she still love him?"

He cocked his head, trying to come up with a clever response. "Indeed. She loves him for his agility, quick wit, and strength."

"And he loves her for her beauty, nimble hands, and eagerness to please. He loves her more than life itself, but he is too much of a coward to tell her." I whispered, stepping closer to him and gazing deeply into his blue eyes.

He softly growled under his breath, "I came to you."

I pulled him down so our lips were only millimeters apart and whispered, "Don't be so sure." And with that, he closed the distance between us and pressed him lips ferociously onto mine.

I ran my hand up his chest, feeling his muscles ripple when he moved. When his hands made their way to my lower back, I pulled away, making sure I stopped the kiss before it went too far.

"Jayden, I need to take a shower." I noticed the water was still running in the background. He nodded, still catching his breath, and maneuvered around me and out the door.

I waited a few more minutes to calm myself down as well before stripping down and climbing into the shower.

Jayden was completely ready and already had both of our backpacks packed when I exited the bathroom. He was standing in the kitchen, leaning on the counter looking sexier than I'd ever seen him before.

He was wearing dark jeans, neither tight nor loose, black sneakers, and a tight, black muscle t-shirt that accentuated what he had been so graciously given. But it wasn't what he was wearing that made him sexier than ever, it was his dark smile that seemed to shout _I know who I am and I don't give a goddamn what anyone else has to say. _That's what made him sexy.

As well as the fact that his wet hair was clinging to his face and making his eyes seem a more vibrant blue than the sky itself.

Upon seeing this, I couldn't stop myself from making my way over to him as fast as I could with my injured self, and reached up to give him a passionate kiss. I felt his smile against my lips, but he pushed me away gently.

"My, my. I think our little Elina is definitely over excited today, hmm?" I laughed and he brushed wet hair out of my face. "We are all set to go. Breakfast for the road?" He asked, motioning to the many foods he'd laid out on the island for me to choose from.

"Jayden, you spoil me. I'm going to be fat soon if you don't stop it." I warned, grabbing a bagel and throwing it in the microwave for a few seconds to heat it up.

Jayden just took an apple, which he tossed in the air three times before actually taking a bite out of it. Finally, he turned to me and shrugged, "You're beautiful no matter what. And you're mine to spoil, so why waste an opportunity?"

I rolled my eyes and limped towards the garage door, frowning when I realized I'd left my backpack on the counter. Jayden came up behind me with both of ours on his back, "Got it." He said, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me out the door.

I scowled at the back of his head, glad he didn't notice. I hated when he made me feel immature and stupid like that.

The short drive to school was mostly spent in silence, the radio providing the much needed background noise. When we did make it to school, we both received _very _questioning looks as we walked through the halls together, both having been absent for a week, and Clarissa literally screamed when she saw us.

"Oh my god! Elina! Finally, you're back!" Grant was standing behind her, watching us intensely. "Ok, you have to tell me _everything _at lunch today! You hear me? Everything! I don't want one small detail left out, alright?" I forced a smile and nodded, allowing her to give me a quick hug as the bell rang before she and Grant hurried off to class.

Jayden laughed bemusedly and helped me as I limped towards the Calculus room.

The rest of the school day went ok. We were both hounded by our teachers for being absent and given loads of makeup work, which I doubted would be completed, but otherwise most of the students ignored us, besides sending us weird looks.

At lunch, Clarissa had ditched Grant and the jocks to come sit with me and Jayden for a while, and as promised I told her as much as I could about my week off. Jayden sat quietly and listened, making sure I didn't give away too much, but he did nudge me almost inconspicuously every time I made something up.

After Clarissa went back to her normal table, Jayden and I sat and helped each other finish some of our extra work, since we didn't really have much time outside of school. I was supposed to go back to work today, which didn't make Jayden happy, but I knew I couldn't put it off any longer. The Whites needed me, and I'd been letting them down.

I also needed to check on my house, to make sure everything was ok and nothing had been stolen. Jayden promised to drop me off at both places after school so I catch up on everything I'd fallen behind in.

In gym class I'd been forced to dress out and ended up throwing a dodge ball behind the bleachers far enough to wear a skinny boy had to climb through the bars to retrieve it. Of course he got stuck and the football players had a great time trying to pull him out while I stood awkwardly and embarrassed off to the side, trying to smother both my laughter and my blush when the poor kid's pants were pulled off.

All in all, my first day back had gone much better than I'd anticipated.

The house was fine, except for the fact that the power, water, and air conditioning had all been turned off due to my "late" payments. There was a pile of bills on the counter that I didn't remember receiving or leaving there, but whatever. I'd all but moved in with Jayden now, so the house from my childhood was pretty much behind me.

Work went fine too. Although I felt guilty for lying so much about why I'd been missing in action for quite a while, the Whites seemed glad to have me back, and strangely I was glad to have my normal life back.

If normal could even begin to describe my life with a Demon Hunter boyfriend, two dead parents supposedly working with the same thing my boyfriend went off killing every day(that tried to kill me!) and the underlying suspicion that demons were also taking over the world. Yeah, my life was normal all right.

Jayden picked me up from the shop at nine, when I told him my shift ended. Instead of taking me out to dinner, like he had numerous times before, we drove in silence back to his house.

He seemed anxious, as if there was something he wanted to tell me but he couldn't force himself to get it out. Well, I could wait. Whatever he had to say probably wasn't the best of news anyway.

Finally we pulled into the long driveway, and I tapped my fingers on the glass window impatiently, knowing he was watching my every move. When he stopped the car, we both sat still for a few more seconds before moving to go into the house.

Like always, he hurried to open my door, but I walked by myself to the garage door and into the house alone. I turned on most of the lights and sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Jayden to come in from whatever he was doing outside.

On the counter, I noticed there was an entire dinner for two set up, complete with unlit candles and individual plates of food, both untouched. Jayden had made us dinner, and then probably forgotten it was here.

I decided to do the right thing, and moved it all from the counter to the table so it would be ready for him when he got back inside. It wasn't a difficult task, but I knew it would be appreciated.

I sat back down on my side of the table, my gaze lingering on a picture on the wall so I wasn't tempted to eat everything laid out in front of me.

A few minutes later I heard the garage door quietly shut and footsteps coming down the hallway. I tried my best to look welcoming and excited when he came through the doorway, but it probably just looked dumb. Me, standing at a candlelit dinner table, forcing a smile and twitching nervously with food he'd made set out in front of me and all of the other lights in the house turned on.

If he noticed, he didn't show it because he smiled and sat down across from me. He glanced up first to ask me if it was ok to eat, and I nodded, giving him the cue to dig in.

Silently, I watched him eat as I had the first time that I'd sat across from him. Although I could tell there was something on his mind that he wanted to discuss, he continued to shovel food into his mouth until there was only enough left for a normal person, me, to eat.

Needless to say, I wasn't hungry, and I surely could wait until after we conversed to eat. Finally, he put down his fork and looked up, meeting my eyes.

"What were you doing outside?" I asked, breaking the long silence.

"Just checking the air… I can usually smell Demons from miles away, if they're acting up." He whispered, still holding my gaze.

"And…?"

"Nothing. Which scares me more than a lot of activity would. They must be planning something." He slid his hand across the table to run it up and down my arm. "I would say everything's going to be fine, but I don't know if it will."

He stood up, putting the dishes in the sink and standing with his back facing me to add, "And please don't be mad at me, but I had to call my brothers' assistance." He sounded ashamed, so I went and wrapped my arms around his waist, looking up at him.

"Why would I be mad?"

He sighed, "I don't know. I didn't think you wanted to meet them—they don't know about your parents."

"But they do know about me?" I asked, leaning against the counter next to him.

"Of course, I told my whole family about you the night we went to Giulietta's." He smiled for the first time all night.

"Who all is coming?"

His smile transformed into what looked like a grimace, "My uncles Marcus and Connor, and Hector, Felicity, Castor, Mariana, Milo and Trinity."

_Oh, great. Practically the entire family was going to meet me. Talk about a death wish!_

I tried to keep my voice steady, but it still quivered as I asked, "All of them?" and he nodded solemnly. "Even Felicity, Milo, and Trinity? But they're not…" I trailed off, afraid to say it, even though I was standing right next to one.

"I know. But Felicity and Trin like to stay with the group, and Milo's in Castor's custody."

I frowned, tapping my fingers against the counter and walking around so I could plop down on the couch. Jayden didn't follow me.

"I know it's a lot for you to handle, and I know it isn't what you want, but I need them." His voice dropped to a whisper, and I could barely hear him, "The Demons are gathering here. They're getting very strong, and I'm almost positive they're planning to take over the world. And as cheesy and old school as that sounds, I'm serious. With enough of them around, and all of my family dead, they could easily take control of the human race, make you slaves, prey, food, or death props. You'd be entirely in their control, and they aren't moral or forgiving."

I turned to look over my shoulder and noticed that he'd come around the corner as well, and was standing behind the couch, but he was facing the other direction, away from me. "So what are we going to do to stop them?"

I watched him closely and he whipped around, his face in hysterics. "We?" He laughed maniacally, "There is _no _we. One of my brothers or I will stay here and protect you while we execute whatever plan we devise. _You _will not be getting involved with this, nor will Trinity, Felicity, or Milo." His breathing came to a halt and he stared, somewhat crazed and bewildered down at me.

I narrowed my eyes and stared back. "I _want _to help. I deserve to help. They killed my parents, this is my battle too." I stood up, closing the distance between us and standing as tall as I could. "And you could use all of the help you can get."

His face was calmer than before, and it looked amused now. "You think you'd be _help?" _He shook his head, returning to serious so he wouldn't offend me, and cupped my cheek in his hand. "Love, you'd hurt more than you'd help. We'd have to worry about keeping you safe as well as fight." I pulled my face away from his hand and backed up, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You can't see them, you can't hear them, you can't fight them, you can't prevent them. You can't help."

I gave an aggravated sigh, "What if I just-?"

He cut me off by covering my mouth with his gentle hand. "Absolutely not."


End file.
